


What Remains

by Wix



Series: The Roles We Play [2]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Captain America - All Media Types, Iron Man (Movies), Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Additional Warnings In Author's Note, Alternate Universe, Body Modification, F/M, Healing, Hurt Tony Stark, M/M, Not Canon Compliant, Not Canon Compliant With Any Film After CACW, not team Cap friendly
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-17
Updated: 2018-07-08
Packaged: 2019-05-24 18:03:34
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 31,364
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14959430
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wix/pseuds/Wix
Summary: There’s a price to be paid for resurrection.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys! Already the first chapter of Part 2 is up! Please enjoy! This will be taking a step back in time and going through Tony's experience leading up to what occurred in The Roles We Play. I highly recommend that you read that part first before you read this!  
> There are spoilers. 
> 
> This is also a shout out to my amazing buddies over on tumblr: arellaroth, feelingsdusk, biasedlibra and rayshippouuchiha - you guys made me smile and laugh! I hope you enjoy this!

The last thing he sees are the frozen designs etching themselves across the armor as everything becomes so cold that he’s no longer cold and he’s just _so tired._ The shield lays a few feet from him, mocking him with every breath he struggles to take in. He doesn’t need to be a genius to do basic math. He doesn’t have more than ten or fifteen more minutes – maybe thirty if he’s _really stubborn_ and it’ll take Vision and FRIDAY at least forty five minutes to get here to answer the distress call.

He should have brought backup…but he hadn’t thought he needed it.

He was such a damn fool. How else had he thought his story was going to end? He had hoped to become something more than the masks that the world had forced onto him and no matter what he did, no matter how hard he chipped and clawed at them…it was never enough.

He wants to say he’s sorry, he wants to say how much he wishes that he could have been different – could have been better – to the people that he loves and to the people he’s leaving behind…but he knows that’s the one thing he’s ever done right, he knows that they know.

He closes his eyes and lets the tension, the painless frozen pain easing through his body as he just lays his head down. Maybe it’s time to rest, maybe it’s time to let it all go. He wishes that it wasn’t, he has so much that he wanted to do, but people don’t get to choose when their time is up. His parents didn’t get to choose the Winter Soldier coming for them and Tony doesn’t get to choose this either.

He lets the last vestiges of fight leave him and he gives himself up.

+++

Something’s wrong.

He doesn’t know what it is and there’s too much noise happening in his head that he can’t understand. It’s like he’s drugged and overwhelmed at the same time with far too much stimuli. None of it is making sense though, none of it is right – something is _wrong_.

_“Doctor Cho, I believe that he’s coming online.”_ Vision’s voice says somewhere and Tony wants to ask him what’s happening, what’s this horrible feeling surrounding him but he can’t seem to figure out how to go about it.

_“What? That’s impossible.”_ Cho’s voice says and there’s some concern there. _“He’s not ready, the scans say that the download hasn’t settled yet.”_

_“What does that mean?”_ Pepper’s ‘take no nonsense’ tone asks from somewhere around him and he wants to smile, he wants to hug her and apologize for making her stand at his hospital bed when she asked him not to do this to her, but he can’t. _“You said you knew how to help him”_

_“Everything is theoretical at this point._ ” Cho fires back and Tony thinks he hears her rushing around. Why would they call Helen? How bad was he? Did he require the Cradle? Would it even work on him with all of the damage that he’s taken over the years?

_“His numbers are starting to rise into unacceptable limits.”_ Vision seems to step in and Tony wants nothing more than to open his eyes and to say something. He’s right here, they’re talking over him and he’s right here…

_“What is he…I think he’s trying to get into the systems, Vision!”_ Cho snaps and everything feels wrong – he feels like he’s trapped in the dark and he can’t feel anything…he can’t feel _anything_. _“What’s he doing Vision?”_

_“I do not know Doctor Cho.”_ Vision says and Tony presses against the feeling of the heaviness resting on him, the shroud resting over his mind that’s stopping him from moving, that’s stopping him from getting out of the dark. He pushes and he tears at it – he wants out…

It feels like fire when he does.

The lights are too bright against the white walls and Tony is screaming but he doesn’t hear himself, he’s not making a sound.

The alarms are going off though, this horrible shrill screech tearing through the speakers all around them as the lights flicker and the other people in the room start freaking out.

_”What’s happening!”_ Pepper yells over the screeching.

_“We have to shut him down, he’s in the systems!”_ Cho yells back and everyone is screaming but Tony while several speakers explode in the background.

_“We can’t just shut him off! Vision!”_ Pepper snarls.

_“He’s in the systems and he’s overloading! If we don’t shut him down he’ll die!”_ Cho replies with her own growl and Vision comes into his view with a tight look on his face as he reaches out for Tony’s face.

_“Please forgive us Mr. Stark.”_ He says as the Mind Stone on his forehead lights up and a feeling like what it used to feel like when the car battery would get wet zaps through him and everything goes dark.

+++

 

“Mr. Stark? Mr. Stark can you hear me?” Vision’s voice drifts past the soft hum that’s echoing in his mind. “Can you open your eyes?”

The dazed feeling leaves him immediately as he opens his eyes and it feels like Tony’s just drank a hundred expressos because the level of focus that he feels he has is impressive. Vision’s sitting next to him and there’s a look on his face that seems to be a strange mix between relieved and worried.

“Vision?” Tony asks, and his voice sounds weird and Tony wonders if his hearing is clogged or if his throat is somehow damaged. Vision just smiles at him gently as he nods.

“I’m here Mr. Stark.” He says as he leans closer to where Tony is lying. “It is good to see you awake sir.” There are dozens of questions running through Tony’s mind, but there are only three that he’s absolutely concerned about.

“Is Rhodey okay? Or Pepper? I heard her here didn’t I? Are they okay?” He asks. “And did Peter make it home okay?” Vision nods to his questions.

“Colonel Rhodes is out of surgery and has been removed from intensive care to the penthouse where he is being looked after by Miss Potts and Mr. Hogan as well as several well trained and vetted medical personnel. Ms. Parker is amongst them and through such Mr. Hogan has managed to keep an eye on the young Mr. Parker. He is well.” Tony lets out a sigh of relief at those words and he reaches up to rub a hand over his face. That thought that it doesn’t feel right, that everything is off hits him again. Also there’s a revelation that just makes him frown.

“Did someone shave me?” He asks, registering the lack of facial hair on his jaw and Vision gets a strange look as he shakes his head.

“No, they did not.” He replies and there’s something there, something that the other man is hiding.

“What happened Viz? I remember…I remember…” Tony thinks back to the base, to Steve turning his back on him after crushing him down. He thinks back to the medical room he woke up in, and that horrible feeling that burned through him. That feeling like he was drifting and burning and being yanked in a million different ways yet being stuck in place.

“You experienced a system overload during your first time coming online.” Vision says gently, like he’s worried about how Tony will react to those words and Tony just looks at him.

“Coming online?” He says and he thinks he might be smiling but his face feels weird alongside everything else and his voice is still weirding him out. Does he need water? “You mean when I woke up right?” Tony corrects and it’s been a while since Tony’s had to correct the other man’s linguistics and it brings up a few good and silly memories.

“If that is what you wish for me to call it then I can.” Vision says. “But it would not be…an adequate description of what occurred.” His words cause Tony to tilt his head a little.

“Viz, what’s going on?” He asks carefully and Vision looks him right in the eyes like he’s about to be the deliverer of bad news and but he’s bound, set and determined to give it anyways.

“It was decided that it would be best if I explained everything to you and assisted you during this transition since I myself experienced something similar.” Vision tells him. “There are of course differences between your experience and mine, but I will of course endeavor to do my absolute best and then some to help you during this time. I promise you this.”

“Vision, you’re scaring me.” Tony admits. “What’s going on?”

“It will take some time to adjust, but I am honestly convinced that you will manage.” Vision tells him, reaching out and placing a hand over one of Tony’s and Tony looks down for the first time to see something that makes everything in him freeze.

That’s not right.

He knows immediately that isn’t right.

He’s been looking at his arms for over forty plus years and he _knows_ what they look like and what they don’t. He sits up immediately and the bed cracks against the wall with more force than it should have and Vision quickly stands up with his hands up in a calming sort of gesture. Tony’s not really concerned about Vision’s hands though, he’s more concerned with his as he stares at them in horror. His voice is off and his hands are wrong. What is going on?

“Vision? Vision what?” Tony asks and he’s freaking out. “What happened? This isn’t…” He looks down at the white hospital gown covering his chest and he reaches up and he doesn’t think about how easily it rips like tissue paper under his hands as he pulls it apart to see a smooth, unblemished chest mocking him.

“Mr. Stark? Mr. Stark please look at me.” Vision tries to say but Tony thinks he might be hyperventilating. This isn’t right. _This isn’t right_. “ **Tony** ,” Vision says forcefully, dragging his attention to him. “I need you to look at me, focus on me please.” Vision says, reaching back over and taking his not-hands in his own.

“Viz…Viz what’s happening?” Tony says tightly and Vision smiles at him in a way that Tony guesses is supposed to ease his worries.

“Everything is going to be alright.” Vision tells him in that calming voice that JARVIS used to take whenever Tony needed him to.

“What…just what?”

“I will explain, but I need you to calm down.” Vision tells him firmly and it helps ground some of the panic winding through Tony. There are a few moments where neither of them say anything before Tony finally manages to release a small amount of tension and Vision is able to unwind his fingers from where they’re still gripping the tattered pieces of his gown. “You were severely injured during your battle with Captain Rogers and Sgt. Barnes.” Vision tells him and Tony nods.

“I know.”

“The damage you suffered was…substantial.”

“How substantial?” Tony asks and it’s the first time that Vision looks away.

“Enough that experimental methods of attempting to assist you were utilized.” Vision says softly. “As you can imagine, it did not go as we had originally planned.”

“Meaning?”

“Doctor Cho and I believed that a combination of the modified Extremis virus in Miss Pott’s blood and the Cradle might have been enough to repair the damage and to restore you to working functionality.” He turns back and looks down at Tony’s hands still cradled in his own. “I am sorry…we did not have the time to run tests as the nanites in your blood were the only thing keeping you alive and they were starting to shut down.”

“So…you ran several experimental tests at the same time on me and just kind of hoped for the best?” Tony clarifies and Vision nods with a tenseness in his own shoulders.

“I…I ask your forgiveness.” He whispers. “We were so desperate to save you that we did not take into account the cost of our actions…and we did not take into account whether or not you would want to be saved at any cost.” Vision slowly let’s go of Tony’s hands. “Extremis reacted badly to the nanites, which reacted badly to the electrical containment field of the Cradle.” Vision tells him and falls silent for a few moments, clearly reliving something horrible that Tony has no memory of.

“Okay…” Tony prods gently and Vision nods, coming back to the story.

“…the system over cycled and went into shut down protocols. We thought that we’d lost you to our haste and there was nothing that we could do…when somehow we think you subconsciously interfaced with the original Cradle in storage which was still semi-connected to the Cradle network.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means that somehow you interfaced and turned it on, restoring whatever system changes that Ultron had created when he designed it to create me.” Vision replies. “It of course did not have Vibranium, but it had plenty of material to work with…” Vision looks at him. “Your consciousness was then uploaded to the form created. The Cradle was destroyed in the process and we have no way of understanding how any of this has come to pass…but it has.”

“So let me get this straight…you’re saying that I’m…not me anymore?”

“No, you are you.” Vision says firmly. “You are just no longer as you were.”

“So I’m…” Tony can’t say the words for some reason but Vision nods.

“An android. Yes.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> O.o  
> I'm just getting these out at a crazy rate. Hope it keeps up!  
> So this chapter is some housekeeping and Tony adjusting to his new existence. The next chapter will finally start laying out the groundwork of you know who in The Roles We Play!
> 
> Please enjoy and a shoutout to Meirta!

It’s been almost twenty five minutes and he hasn’t moved from this spot since he got here. His eyes have been glued to the mirror and the image that it’s presenting to him. It’s his face, but it’s not. It’s what his face looks like _now_ , and Tony’s still trying to come to terms with that very scary fact.

The dark brown eyes and dark brown hair seem to be the only constant that Tony has kept from his first form to his second. Tony’s considered avoiding the eyes in the reflection because they’re still somehow his weakest feature. He can see the horror and uncertainty in them. He can see the panic and the ‘what now?’ question that’s been running through his mind on repeat this whole time even though he’s trying to hide it.

They look _human_.

 _He_ looks human. A perfect replica of a young man that Tony has never seen before in his life.

“Did I pick this?” Tony asks, and it’s the first words that he’s said since he left the bed. The voice still throws him off, too soft and too strange to sound right to him right now.

“I do not believe so.” Vision answers him, coming over to the open door and standing in the doorway. Tony’s almost grateful for the answer, otherwise he’d have to deal with his vanity being questioned by someone sooner or later.

If he tells anyone.

But that’s a problem for another day. Tony can’t handle that right now.

“Where did it come from then?” Tony asks and he’s back to memorizing the young man in the reflection before him. The skin is smooth and clear, and he looks like something designed for visual aesthetics over any other form or use. For some reason the perfection seems cheap. Unearned and fake.

Plastic.

A _machine_.

Vision’s hand closes over Tony’s gently and he looks down to see where he’s cracked the sink from the pressure he’s just unleashed on it. Tony grins ruefully and he’s a little surprised still to see the reflection out of the corner of his eye actually perform the action.

“Sorry.”

“There is nothing to apologize for.” Vision tells him. “To answer your previous question, I believe that the overall design for this form was originally created by Ultron.”

“Ultron made this?” Tony asks and it’s an entertaining thought. Who would have taken the first android seriously with a face like this? This soft looking thing with human eyes?

“He made a few design blueprints, cycling through them before deciding on the one that eventually became the choice for my form.”

“Why don’t I look like you then?” Tony asks and Vision checks his palm over to make sure there’s no damage done from the cracked porcelain.

“Without the necessary materials needed to create my form, the option would not have been available to you at the time.” Vision tells him. “It’s entirely possible that this form was the only one that could be created from the leftover synthetic base material still embedded in the machine. Plus intent would have been required. You did not wish to stand apart from humanity, and as such your form shows this. I was never meant to blend in.”

“Ultron wanted to be a god, not a man.” Tony says and Vision nods.

“Yes, but you are not Ultron. You have never wished to be anything but a man.” Vision tells him and Tony feels cold. He wonders if it’s really something he’s feeling or just a fault in some code somewhere in his head or his body.

“Did you know…people used to joke, used to say I was a machine. That I ran on batteries…” Tony’s strange new voice sounds small even to his ears. “…I used to try so hard to let them see that no, I was just like them…and now look at me. Guess the jokes on me after all.” He takes a moment and his vision goes a little blurry and he reaches up and touches under his eyes where the tears are flowing. “Oh look at that neat little trick…I can still cry.” Tony says and he’s grateful that Vision is there when his knees buckle a split second later and the other android holds him as he shakes and falls apart.

+++

“What happens if I get hurt?” Tony asks as he picks at the food. It’s nice to know that there are still things that he can ‘process’ or eat that his new form can completely break down for power and energy. He’ll miss a lot of the junk food though.

“A simple patch job in a Cradle should suffice.” Vision tells him and Tony nods.

“Has Helen managed to get any information out of the original Cradle yet?” He questions and Vision shakes his head.

“The entire system was fried. There is no data to pull to explain how you were able to accomplish the transition.” Vision says. “In all truth, it should have been impossible and replication of the process would undoubtedly be quite dangerous for anyone else to attempt.” Tony slides the vegetables around on the plate.

“Maybe that’s for the best.” He says softly. “I don’t think we’re ready for this.” He says thinking of the world and the state of mankind. He bites back the comment of how _he_ wasn’t ready for this to be kind to Vision but by the way the other android lowers his head Tony figures he may as well have shouted it to the sky.

“I am sorry Mr. Stark, we did not mean for this to happen.” Vision says and Tony manages to smile. He doesn’t blame Vision, not really. It was an unforeseen complication and an unpredictable turn of events. No one could have known this would happen and he doesn’t want to go around blaming people who made a bad choice while in pain.

“I know Vision, it’s alright.” It’s not, but for the first time his not-voice sounds convincing.

+++

The first time waking up from sleeping sends Tony into a terrified, spastic fit that leaves a Vision shaped dent in the wall. Tony wants to be sorry, he wants to check on Vision but he can’t _focus_. There’s too much data, too much going on as he comes back online.

“Mr. Stark, listen to my voice.” Vision says and Tony tries as he jerks and flails. What’s happening to him? Is he dying again? Can he die? “You have this under control, you just need to take a moment and calm down. Breathe, in and out.”

“I don’t need to breathe.” Tony says and he might be laughing before that thought somehow sends him on a related downward spiral. “I’m not breathing, I’m not breathing. I can’t breathe.” He twists and jolts, hands reaching up to claw at his throat and his chest. He isn’t breathing, he can’t breathe – he’s dying.

“Mr. Stark!” Vision yells loud enough to rattle him and Tony stares up at him from where he’s fallen on the floor in his panic. “You’re okay, listen to my voice, you’re okay.”

He’s not. He’s really not and they both know it.

+++

“Have you been sleeping?” Doctor Weiss asks and Tony shakes his head as he looks out the window.

“I don’t sleep anymore.” He says and she takes a moment.

“That’s not entirely true, is it?” She leads him and he sighs. He’s surprised how many of his human quirks he can mimic in this form.

“Vision says it’s like sleep. A ‘required period of inactivity that should be performed at least once a day to process diagnostics and to allow the Extremis processors to correct any system malfunctions or errant coding’.”

“Does it bother you to refer to it as sleeping?”

“I don’t know.” Tony lies and he knows that she knows it. “I guess.”

“Why?” She asks and Tony doesn’t answer her. “Is it because it feels too human?” He doesn’t respond at first before he slowly nods. “Does it bother you to consider yourself doing human things in this new form?”

“Yes.”

“Do you know why that is?”

“I’m not human anymore.” Tony responds and she shakes her head out of his peripheral.

“You’re still human Tony. Human is what you do not what parts you’re made of. Is Rhodes less human because he’ll require machine assistance and intervention to walk? Or any of the people who require prosthetics to function about their days normally?”

“It’s not the same.”

“Your mind is basically inside one giant, advanced prosthetic.” She tells him. “And that doesn’t change who you are.”

She tasks him with attempting doing things the way he used to before the ‘transformation’. Tony promises her that he will and he hopes that it helps settle this feeling that’s slowly eating him away.

This feeling like he’s just the echo of a system malfunction that doesn’t know when to quit and that doesn’t know how to run properly anymore.

+++

Rhodey clings to him when he’s finally well enough to be wheeled out of the penthouse and come visit the manor. The days are getting better, passing by rather monotonously with his tasks and his training and Tony tries to ignore how his mind is processing just how much force and pressure is behind Rhodey’s arms and he is as gentle as he can possibly be when he just gives up and leans his face against the man’s neck.

“I’m so sorry.” Rhodey whispers into his ear over and over again and Tony feels like he should be the one saying that.

“I’m sorry.” He whispers back and Rhodey pushes him back slightly, hands on either shoulder as he just looks at Tony and it’s with the same look that he always has. He doesn’t look at him like everyone else that Tony’s interacted with has where they’re searching a stranger’s face for a hint of what used to be Tony Stark, Rhodey just looks like he’s looking at _Tony_ and it feels like for the first time, something fixes inside of him.

He’s still in here. Rhodey would know. He’s still here.

“It wasn’t your fault.” Rhodey tells him firmly. “Tones, it _wasn’t_ _your fault_.” He repeats and Tony feels the tears start happening again.

“This wasn’t your fault either.”

“I didn’t let you go.” Rhodey says with a shake of his head. “I shouldn’t have done it. I shouldn’t have pushed.”

“We’ve used Extremis before in extreme situations.” Tony tells him and he reaches out and puts his hands over Rhodey’s legs. “I would have used it on you if our situations had been reversed.” Tony admits and he knows it’s true. Without the nanites, Extremis would have had no reason to rebel or be forced to undergo an evolution aided by the Cradle.

“I don’t think it would have worked out the same way.” Rhodey says with a small smile and Tony finds himself matching it.

“You know me, always have to go above and beyond.” Tony says and when Rhodey apologizes again Tony responds in a similar vein to Vision, but for the first time he has hope that maybe he’s still in here.

+++

“Thank you for staying here with me.” Tony tells Vision some time later and the other android looks up at him like he’s just said Christmas has come early.

“There’s nowhere else I’d rather be Mr. Stark.” Vision tells him and Tony feels like he manages the smile he’s actually trying to get across.

“Just Tony for now, if that’s okay.”

“…Tony it is then.” Vision says easily.

+++

“The strength and the stamina are nice.” Tony admits to Vision after a practice run of the Extremis systems and Vision smiles at him. “I don’t remember what it was like to be healthy, but I think I’m starting to forget how it felt to always be tired and in pain.”

“That is a good thing, yes?”

“Yeah, that’s pretty nice.” Tony says as he stretches. It’s still strange, but he’s settling into the body more like it’s his and not like he’s an unwilling passenger. “The Extremis Network has finally settled.”

“I am pleased to hear that.” Vision says. “It will be interesting to see how that comes in handy in the future.”

“A constant uplink to all the information that mankind has to offer seems like it won’t take long to come in handy.” Tony tells him and Vision nods.

“There should also be one additional benefit.” Vision says and Tony glances at him. “With the Extremis Network and your new mental composition, the powers that Miss Maximoff has utilized against you in the past should be useless now.” Tony pauses as he contemplates that.

“That’s actually…pretty awesome.” Tony says with a smile and Vision matches it.

+++

“I think I’m ready to talk about what happens next.” Tony tells Doctor Weiss and she looks up from her notebook at him.

“And what does that look like to you?”

“I can’t stay here forever, and Vision says that I’ve settled into my programing. I’ve got a hold of the changes now and I think I’m ready to go back.”

“The world has been asking after Tony Stark for a little bit now.” She tells him before she pauses. “But what will you tell them?” Tony’s thought about this already and he looks at his hands.

They’re not what they were, but they’re his now.

“I’ve got an idea.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this caused me a little bit of trouble. I had a hard time determining if I wanted to refer to Tony as 'Tony' or as 'A.J.' in the narrative and I eventually settled on the latter. So it's finally absolutely clear that Tony is A.J. and A.J. is Tony.  
> (Also, I've been asked a few times if I have an image in my head for what Tony looks like now...the answer to that is yes I do, and there's a reason for it and if you're really curious I'll pen up something on my tumblr page and you're welcome to come poke your head in over there and engage with me on it)
> 
> Also Note! There is a time jump at the beginning of this chapter. We're catching up with The Roles We Play's timeline.

The buzzing in his pocket comes around lunchtime as he carries buckets of water towards the drop off point.

 _** Call coming from Avengers Compound – James Rhodes Office – Secure Line._ _**_

Flashes in his mind, and he puts down the buckets for the others to use as he wipes his hands off on his pants before pulling the cellphone out and accepting the call. The call is too early, and there’s something inside him that knows that something has gone off plan long before he pulls it up to his ear.

“Hello?” He says and there’s a sigh on the other side of the line.

“We need you to come back.” Are the words that Rhodey opens with and he separates himself from the others with a wave of ‘one moment’ as he steps off to have a little more privacy.

“Is everything okay?” He asks and the pause that he gets is far too long and answers the question quite succinctly.

“To be honest with you, I’m not actually sure yet.” Rhodey admits. “But I know that I need you here…I’m sorry, I know it’s earlier than we had planned, but I really need you here.”

“Done and done.” He tells him as he closes his eyes and reaches out to the Extremis Network.

_** Checking Flights - - - Acceptable Flight Parameters Found : Nonstop O.R. Tambo Intl. to John F. Kennedy Intl. :  Economy Available (Y) : Ticket Secured : Total Flight Time Estimated At 15h 40m **_

_** Transportation Acquired : Destination O.R. Tambo International Airport : Timeframe 32 minutes. **_

“I’m on my way now. I’ll be at the airport in an hour.” He tells him. “On a scale of one to ten?” He asks.

“Not sure yet, when you get a chance review the security footage.” Rhodey tells him. “But if I were to be pressed to give an answer, I’d say either seven or eleven.”

“So translation is that it’s either bad or worse?” He says and Rhodey sighs on the other side of the line.

“It’s certainly unexpected.” Rhodey tells him. “I’ll see you when you get here…Sorry about cutting your plan short.”

“Adaptability is the way of the world Rhodey.” He tells him. “We knew it was possible that the plan would need adjusting. We planned for that.” He reminds him and Rhodey lets out a soft chuckle.

“Trust me, we didn’t plan for _this_.” Rhodey takes a moment. “Can I get you to activate the Iron Legion protocol and give FRIDAY and I control?”

“Sure, but I’ll admit now I’m worried. The Legion isn’t fully restored yet but they’re yours. It’ll take me a few minutes, I’ll work on it in the car.”

“Good, thanks. Oh, and Ross would like to speak with you if convenient.”

“I’ll give him a call.”

“See you soon Tones.”

“You’re not supposed to call me that anymore.” He reminds him gently.

“I know, just wanted to do it one last time for old time’s sake.” Rhodey tells him. “See you soon _A.J._ ”

“See you soon.” A.J. promises.

+++

“Mr. Stark, thank you for giving me a call.” Everett says and A.J. looks out the window and does a quick scan of the area to make sure that no one is listening in and that he isn’t going to have any unexpected visitors while he’s packing and making this call.

“Hello Councilmember.” He says, adjusting his voice vibrations and sound into mimicking his old voice. He makes sure to add a level of breathiness and strain into the words. “Rhodes says you needed to talk to me?”

“Just checking up on how you’re doing, there is a bit of fuss going on in the news.”

“Living the dream Councilmember, living the…dream.” He adds a soft cough just for effect. ‘Tony Stark’ is still healing after all from several surgeries as well as ones to restore his lung capacity and the damage done to his sternum. He can’t oversell it, but he also can’t undersell it either.  

“We’re glad to hear that. We wanted to say we’re grateful for your continued service with the armor despite your current health concerns, we hope that it’s not detrimental to your healing.”

“It’s all electronic, no physical strain involved past mental.” A.J. tells him and he knows that the Council is leading up to something. “Has something happened?” He asks, trying to get to the point.

“We thought it would be respectful to you if we informed you of our intention to accept the negotiations from King T’Challa in regards to your old teammates.” Everett says and A.J. pauses. That’s _way_ too early, what on earth is going on over there? He thought he was keeping his finger pretty well on the pulse of all that but evidentially something major had just slipped past him. “We did not wish for you to feel blindsided by this decision.”

“Thank you for that.” He tells him and he wants to roll his eyes. That’s not what they’re doing, they’re making sure that they’re not shooting themselves in the foot by accepting T’Challa’s deal and pissing ‘Camp Stark’ off in the process. “I’m not sure if I agree with that decision, but as I said before I leave that to the determination and wisdom of the council. I don’t want to have any part in that.”

“Of course, and we thank you for your professionalism in this situation. And we thank you for any help you’re able to continue giving during this difficult time.”

“Of course, thank you as well.” A.J. tells him. “I have to go, but I’ll be in touch.” He clears his throat after the call ends and he sighs.

It was a nice vacation while it lasted.

+++

He finds his seat on the plane pretty easily and he settles in as everyone else around him is grabbing their seats and putting up their luggage. He closes his eyes and reconnects to the Network, reaching out for the Compounds familiar systems. FRIDAY greets him warmly when he connects and he takes a moment to send a friendly response to his youngest AI before searching for the recordings of the most recent Council meeting between Rhodey and Ross.

He’s not surprised to see Susan Storm present in the meetings these days as the voice for the new ‘Fantastic Four’, or Danny Rand who has stepped up to be the voice for the ‘Defenders’. It’s nice to know that their recruitment strategy is working rather competently and he wishes that he could be there more than just in spirit inside a hollow suit of armor. He guesses now he’s going to get the chance.

He is however surprised to see Thor on the footage.

And he sure as hell is surprised to see _Loki_.

_“Thanos is coming to Midgard. He seeks the two infinity stones that are housed on this planet. Our father has sent us ahead of the Titan’s army to help fortify Midgard’s defenses and to secure the stones if necessary.”_

Thanos. So that’s the bastard’s name.

_“My brother has been granted the opportunity to make amends to Midgard by our father. He is here to join in the preparations and to participate in the upcoming battle.”_

A.J. feels like he sides a little with the Council in their concerns regarding Loki’s true motivations and loyalties. Not to mention his less than stellar history with the people of earth. Thor pretty much demands that they abide by the All-Father’s commands regarding Loki’s ‘community service’ least they lose all of Asgards assistance in the upcoming fights. He does relent to Loki being contained under the Avengers watchful gazes during the time till a satisfactory negotiation could be gained from the ‘god of lies and mischief’.  

A.J. knows why he’s needed back though when the Council requests that Tony look into ways of adding additional security features to the Hulk’s Containment Room that’s still present in the bowls of the Compound.

“Please turn off all electronic devices at this time.” The stewardess’s request tugs his awareness back to the world at large as she finishes up the pre-flight checks and A.J. can’t help the small, secret smile that tugs at his lips as he fully disconnects from the Compounds systems.

He probably spends far too much of the flight back to the states wondering if he has an ‘airplane mode’ setting available in his systems.

+++

“It’s good to see you.” Rhodey whispers in his ear when he enters the labs and A.J. smiles at the other man and returns the gesture.

“You saw me three days ago Platypus.” A.J. tells him, knowing that it’s one of the last times he’ll be allowed to use one of his old nicknames for Rhodey so he revels in it.

“Video conferencing is not the same.” Rhodey tells him and A.J. chuckles.

“I was here in the armor too. I seem to recall-” He starts to say and Rhodey shakes his head.

“Not the same.” He reaffirms firmly. “It’s good to have you back man. I’m guessing you’ve already seen everything?”

“Yeah, I connected on the plane. Loki? Seriously?” He says as he follows Rhodey to the observation room.

“Yeah, Thor’s already agreed to look over the Accords with Foster before he signs and the Council wants something a little more…contained for Loki himself.”

“I can’t believe they want to try to negotiate with _Loki_.” A.J. says and his voice sounds just as disbelieving as he feels. “I mean, he’s called ‘silver-tongue’ and ‘god of mischief and lies’…who in their right mind would want to enter a negotiation with him for a deal that might affect the security of the entire planet?”

“Yeah, it’s chaos.” Rhodey admits. “But for the most part they’re more concerned right now with making sure that we’re able to show Loki that we have ways to contain him should he prove himself to be less than honest in his intentions than they are to start offering up concessions. I’m calling Vision back from Europe as well, just to be extra muscle in case Loki decides to get difficult with us.”

“That’s probably a good idea.”

“Speaking of ideas, please tell me you have some?”

“I ran a few simulations after the Battle of New York, but I’ll need more data if I want to come up with anything concrete.” A.J. admits as they come to a stop in front of the giant one way windows, looking down at the ‘god’ in the containment cell.

“What kind of data?”

“The last time Loki was here, he was using the Scepter’s energy to supplement his powers. I don’t actually have any data on him _sans_ the Scepter.” A.J. replies. “I’ll need something, even just a blip in order to start putting together ideas for execution.”

“Something tells me that he’s going to be difficult with us about that.” Rhodey says and A.J. agrees with him. “He knows that we’re scrambling around in the dark right now.” A.J. glances down in the room and does some quick mental calculations. The reborn Iron Legion that he activated for Rhodey stand around the room, prepped to engage the Asgardian at a moment’s notice if required. Loki doesn’t look concerned though, and anyone who isn’t concerned with a whole bunch of guns pointed at them concerns him.

“So Thor left us with him?” He asks in clarification and Rhodey rolls his eyes with a huff.

“Faster than you can say ‘Rainbow Bridge’.” Rhodey tells him. “He said that he trusted Loki’s promise to remain within the Compound and a whole bunch of ‘I trust that my shield brothers and sisters are more than capable of dealing with Loki and his schemes should he act out’.”

“So worthless platitudes so that he could scurry off to Foster.” A.J translates and Rhodey nods.

“Yeah, it wasn’t even subtle.”

“Nothing about him ever is.” A.J. snorts before he lets out a sigh and rubs a hand over his face. “We’re going to need Loki to cooperate with us if we want to even have a chance at making this work.”

“He hasn’t exactly been very talkative…which is actually really creepy when it’s him.” Rhodey tells him and A.J. tilts his head a little.

“I can probably get him to talk.” He says before he turns to look at Rhodey. “Did you hear? The timetable is pushed up. The Council is accepting T’Challa’s negotiations.”

“Yeah, I heard. I argued against it but it was pointless just like you said it’d be.” Rhodey says, crossing his arms in frustration. “They ‘reminded’ me about how useful the Scarlet Witch’s powers would be against Thanos and how a super soldier might come in handy.”

“And the rest of the team?”

“Getting by as a packaged deal.” Rhodey tells him and A.J. nods. That makes an annoying amount of sense.

“Sounds about right. Well…wish me luck.” He tells him and Rhodey gives him a look.

“Be careful…A.J.” Rhodey says, pausing over the name for a brief second. “He’s not actually contained in there, he’s just playing with us.”

“I know." A.J. tells him. “And I’m here to fix that.” He shoots Rhodey a grin before he turns to enter the room with the waiting ‘god’.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Chapter's here!  
> Thank you by the way for all the reviews! Please keep them coming!

The Iron Legion continues to stand at attention as he opens the door and steps into the outer area of the Hulk’s Containment Room. The Containment Pod is centered to the room around it and Loki is just standing in the center of the empty area with his back to his new visitor. A.J. wonders if Loki’s considered who it will be that they’ll send in here to question him or to get the information that A.J. doesn’t doubt the Asgardian already knows they need.

A.J. doesn’t believe for one second that Loki is truly contained within the Pod and he has to remind himself that he’s not as vulnerable as he once was the first time he crossed paths with the demi-god. For starters he doesn’t have to wait several minutes for a suit of armor to come to his aid if the demi-god acts out and he doesn’t have a glowing nightlight in his chest that was susceptible to being crushed or ripped out. Plus there’s the added bonus of not really _needing_ to breathe should the other decide to reacquaint himself with A.J.’s throat again.

“Hello Mr. Odinson.” A.J. greets in his best Pepper Potts Personal Assistant Extraordinaire voice and tone when he comes to a stop outside the Pod’s containment area. Loki takes a moment, turning around in his own time and at his own leisure before his eyes land on the young man standing outside his cell.

“You were not who I expected.” Loki says after a brief pause where he just looked at A.J., and that answers his earlier question about Loki’s wandering thoughts. A.J. almost asks who he expected, if it was Natasha with her ‘make you look left and I go right’ methods that were almost guaranteed to never work again or if he was expecting someone more like Clint and his barely repressed rage towards the Asgardian prince. “Have we met?” Loki asks, his eyes trailing over A.J.’s form like he’s looking for the answer to a rather complex puzzle.

“Have we?” A.J. asks, refusing to answer the question in a negative or positive light.

“You seem…familiar.” Loki tells him, tilting his head to the side slightly. “And yet, nothing about you is familiar at all.”

“If it would be alright with you, I would like to cut to the chase.” A.J. tells him and Loki takes a moment before he waves his hand in a general sort of ‘get on with it’ motion. “I am here to request a demonstration of your abilities.”

“And why would I do that?” Loki asks, an amused look crossing his face. “You are undoubtedly trying to find a way to track or detect my magic. That doesn’t sound like it would benefit me at all.”

“It may not seem like it, but it would.” He tells him. “The Council needs to feel…safe, in order to move forward with negotiations.” A.J. says. “And in order to do that they need to feel that you are secure.”

“And do you truly think that a simple display will give you the information that will allow you to contain me?”

“It would be a start at the very least.”

“…who are you?” Loki asks, taking a step forward and A.J. doesn’t shift or budge.

“I am part of the team that has been tasked with attempting said security on the Containment Pod during the duration of your stay.” A.J. answers him, knowing that’s not the answer the demi-god is looking for.

“You seem young.” Loki says and A.J. just continues to stand there, giving nothing away.

“I look young for my age.” He agrees with him after a moment and Loki clicks his tongue in disapproval.

“I said ‘seem’, I didn’t say that you were.” Loki corrects him, eyes tracking him for some kind of reaction.

He gets nothing.

“I’m here to make certain concessions on your behalf.” A.J. tells him. “As you may be contained within this room for some time, is there something that might make you more comfortable that the Avengers or the Council might be able to provide as payment for the display that we ask for?” He asks him and Loki takes a few steps forward, coming to the glass and looking slightly down on him.

“You wish for me to place myself at a disadvantage for simple luxuries?” He asks.

“Yes.” A.J. answers simply. “And to show that you are in fact serious in your intention to assist the Avengers and to adhere to the Council’s requests of you.”

“Does the Council ‘request’ this?”

“They have requested that you cooperate with the Avengers during this time.” A.J. replies easily.

“And if I don’t then our ‘negotiations’ will start off on a sour note.” Loki surmises. “So this is a test of sorts.”

“If you wish to see it as such.” A.J. replies with the same neutral tone that he’s taken for this entire conversation.

“And if I were to do this, then what pray tell would you offer me?” Loki asks.

“We could give you reading material, or some games to pass the time.”

“And what about a bed?” Loki asks with a look that says he’s just toying with A.J. “Am I not permitted such a basic commodity?”

“Of course, but that will be delivered without any action on your part.” A.J. tells him. “I’m sure that standing will lose its charm after a while and we’re not going to force you to lay on the ground.”

“I’ll admit that I’m surprised that there is not already one present in this cell. Is this not where you send your creature when it’s misbehaved?” Loki mocks, motioning to the empty area.

“The Hulk is usually in a certain kind of state when he utilizes this chamber of his own free will.” A.J. tells him. “Giving him more items to smash tends to be counterproductive to everyone involved.”

“And where is your beast?” Loki asks. “I have not seen him around. Is it not dangerous for me to be in here while he is out there?” He tries to pry and A.J. doesn’t follow him down the new conversational path that he’s opened up.

“If you wished, we could see about getting you a television screen in here and let you entertain yourself with it.” A.J. says instead. “It would of course be outside of the Pod but it would still work if you wanted.”

“A ‘television’ is certainly a step up from the magazine that I was offered the last time that I was in here.” Loki says and A.J. wonders for a brief moment if he’s baiting him in some way. Trying to get him to acknowledge that he knows about Fury’s last interaction with the demi-god back during the pre-Battle for New York.

Back before Loki killed Coulson.

It doesn’t work, but it’s a definite possibility.

“If you’d like a few magazines we could arrange that as well.” A.J. tells him and Loki scoffs with an obvious distaste for the option. “Would you like to go forward with the options mentioned?” Loki turns to him again, staring him down before there’s a ripple of green and gold – his sensors immediately pick it up and the Iron Legion and FRIDAY jump on the readings as well in a split second – before Loki is no longer in his cell but standing directly in front of A.J. with no more barrier.

A.J. doesn’t flinch or recoil outwardly even if all of his systems are screaming at him that a serious threat is in his immediate vicinity and preparing for a fight. Green eyes track over his face with that earlier curiosity.

“What are you?” He asks. “You look human…but you are not.” A.J. retains his calm demeanor.

“I am one of the people tasked with the security features of this room during your stay here.” He tells him again and Loki smirks, amusement clear in his eyes.

“…how curious.” He says as he reaches out and hovers his fingers by A.J.’s face but doesn’t touch. “You are not what you seem.”

“I suggest that you return to your cell Mr. Odinson, least your agreement with the Council be voided by this display.”

“Mr. Laufeyson if you don’t mind.” Loki tells him, that smirk never once leaving his face. “And here I thought you _wanted_ me to show you my abilities Mr.?”

“Thank you for your cooperation then Mr. Laufeyson.” A.J. tells him, ignoring the prompt that the Asgardian has given him. “We will be sure to have the items that you and I discussed delivered as soon as possible.” Loki clearly doesn’t miss the obvious refusal to share his name and he just continues to smirk as he holds his hands up in a mockery of surrender as he steps back and magically phases back through the walls again. A.J. turns and walks back to the door once Loki’s back in the cell and he pauses at the door for a brief moment when he hears Loki’s final farewell of: “I hope to see you again.”

He doesn’t turn around as the door closes behind him.

+++

“Are you okay?” Rhodey asks immediately when he returns to the observation deck and A.J. nods, letting the other man do a quick check over. “He didn’t do any magic on you right?”

“Not from the scans.” A.J. tells him with a shake of his head. “FRIDAY and I were able to pick up the data we needed from his little jaunt down there and my body’s sensors didn’t detect any outside influences. He only used his magic twice, to get out of the Pod and to get back in it.”

“I don’t like it. The bastards playing with us.” Rhodey snaps and A.J. nods.

“I agree.” He tells him. “But we don’t have much of a choice here.” The two of them fall into silence for a moment as they stare down at the ‘prisoner’.

“…He knew what you were. He sensed it.” Rhodey says. “That’s dangerous.”

“I don’t think he knows exactly what I am yet, just that I’m not human. I don’t think he has enough data on his own to put two and two together about what’s going on with me yet.” A.J. tells him. “I don’t doubt he’ll have it the first time he crosses Vision though, since we’re both a similar sort of breed.”

“If he knows what you are he can hurt you.”

“He could hurt me anyways. I’m not invulnerable in this form.” A.J. reminds him. “I’m not any different in durability than a human if we’re being honest. If he wanted to cause me harm or damage me he could have done it. That wasn’t what he was after.”

“Then what was he after?”

“I think he was fishing. Shiny new toy and all that.” A.J. admits.

“Fishing is dangerous.” Rhodey says firmly. “Because sometimes just throwing a worm into the deep end gets you something even if you’re not really expecting it…You need to be more careful.”

“I had FRIDAY in the room with me and you were just right here. Not to mention that the armor could have come up through that floor in a second if I called for it. I was completely safe.”

“He was inches from you, he could have seriously hurt you long before either FRIDAY or I could have come to your aid.” Rhodey tells him. “Don’t play with fire – you’re not invulnerable remember?” Rhodey says, throwing his words back at him softly.

“I know Rhodey, but we needed to show Loki that we’re not afraid of him.” He tells him. “Wary, sure. He knows we’re wary and we’d be stupid not to be, but we can’t show that we’re afraid or this will never work. Once we lose ground he’s not going to give us a chance to get it back.”

“Yeah, I get that, but that doesn’t mean that I think throwing yourself into his path is a good idea either.” Rhodey warns him. “Catching the attention and curiosity of crazy has never worked out well for you in the past or have you forgotten?”

“No, I haven’t forgotten…but I seem to recall a few times where it has.” A.J. gives him a playful kind of smile and Rhodey rolls his eyes with an amused huff.

“You’re impossible.”

“I try.” A.J. tosses back and Rhodey matches his smile even though it looks like he’s trying to pretend that he doesn’t want to.

“So what do we do now?”

“We get him what we promised him and I get to work.” A.J. says. “With luck I’ll be able to-”

 ** _‘Sirs, an old Avenger key card was just used to gain entry at the front door.’_** FRIDAY interrupts them and they both pause.

“Whose?”

**_‘Dr. Bruce Banner.’_ **

_'Huh'_ A.J. can't help himself from thinking. _'Crazy timing.'_


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Things I should be doing: Studying.   
> Things I am doing: Writing fanfiction. 
> 
> Yup, I've clearly got my priorities sorted correctly. ;-P
> 
> So I'm still getting messages asking about Tony's new body and new look. I mentioned it over on Tumblr but I guess I'll just mention it here for everyone else. If you've played or watched any play through of Detroit: Become Human - Connor. That's him, that's how I see him. And as for what he is now android/cyborg/etc. He's purely android. There's no human tissue in his form just a synthetic replica of it. Hope that clears up any lingering confusion.

Rhodey glances at him and A.J. knows that he wants to say something, but he stays quiet. Secretly A.J.’s grateful for it, he knows that Rhodey is giving him the time to process the unexpected arrival of Bruce Banner without any input from outside sources coloring his response.

_‘This is your choice Tony, and we’ll back you on whatever you choose.’_ A.J.’s mind recalls Rhodey’s words when they first made the Operation: Junior plan (Also known as Operation: Cap’s A Dick if Harley were to be asked or Operation: Much Cooler Rebirth if Peter was) and put it into effect.

He hadn’t really expected Bruce to show up, or if he were being honest he hadn’t expected it to be this soon and as such he hadn’t really taken the time out to consider how he was going to handle the other man and if he was going to be honest with him or not.

There’s a part of A.J. – the remnants of the old Tony still lingering deep inside him – that remembers the time that he thought that Bruce was his friend. He remembers wanting so desperately to be accepted and to offer acceptance in return to someone who seemed above all of the willful pettiness of the press and the blind eye that the other Avengers turned to Tony’s masks.

Natasha had told Tony to be careful once, and had warned him not to poke sleeping bears. She had thought that the reason why Tony tried to integrate with Bruce so much was because Tony saw something similar in Bruce that he saw in himself. A monster that they fought with every day and tried to hide unsuccessfully from the world.

Tony might have given some credence to the idea once upon a time, but A.J. knows now that Natasha was wrong. The Hulk wasn’t someone to be feared and there was never any monster inside Bruce that needed to be hid –

Just like there was never any kind of monster inside Tony.

Instead it was just another ill-fitting mask that Tony wore that someone else forced onto him and he’d been too mixed up and blind to see it at the time.

_“Were you actively napping?”_

_“I…I was…I drifted.”_

_“Where did I lose you?”_

_“…elevator in Switzerland.”_

The memory comes to the surface, the first and last time that Tony had tried to open up to any of the Avengers…the first and last time that he’d tried to open up to _Bruce_. He’d tried to play it off, the deep wrenching hurt in his heart at the doctor’s blasé response to Tony finally doing what everyone had been demanding of him and Tony had pretended not to care and had moved on with a joke.

A.J. wonders if that was the first time that he realized that the Avengers didn’t actually want the truth from him, they didn’t want to actually see the human inside the armor like they claimed they did – they just wanted something to use against Tony as an end all argument.

_“You’re a machine Tony.”_

How true those words are now, and how much hurt they used to carry. A weapon used so liberally by those who claimed to be better, by those who claimed to know what was best.

“We’re not going to tell him.” A.J. says eventually and he sees the relieved sigh that Rhodey does out of the corner of his eye, like a giant weight has just been lifted from him at A.J.’s words. “He’ll get the same story that everyone else gets.”

“Okay, I’ll go down there and say hi then.” Rhodey says and A.J. nods.

“I’ll be down in the lab, working on the new data. Hopefully there’s something there that’ll let me keep Jack-In-The-Box down there actually _inside_ the box.”

“Okay, let me know what you come up with.”

“Will do.” A.J. tells him and Rhodey puts a hand on his shoulder, a comforting weight along with a soft smile and it takes A.J. a second to return it, but it feels real when he does. “Thanks Platypus.”

“You’re not supposed to call me that anymore.” Rhodey says with an undertone of playfulness and A.J. smiles.

“For old times’ sake.” A.J. replies and he wonders if that’s going to be a new thing for them. This inside joke that could unravel everything if done at the wrong moment.

Rhodey takes off to handle Bruce and A.J. takes himself down to the lab. Dum-E rushes over and taps against his leg like the bot has done every time A.J. has come down since his return and he smiles, putting a hand on the metal frame and reaching in to interact with the code. Dum-E trills happily at the connection and A.J. lets himself bask in his child’s affection. It’s odd to be able to interact with his AI creations on this level but it is certainly something he’d never give up even if he had the chance to go back to his old form.

Dum-E rushes off, eager as always to go clean up (create if they’re being honest) a mess and A.J. walks over to the computer systems and pulls up the information. He considers for a moment, tapping into the security feed to see what’s happening between Rhodey and Bruce but he opts against it at the last moment. He’s got work to do and he can’t afford to be distracted by an old acquaintance.

+++

“Hey.” A gentle nudge on his shoulder surprises him and he jumps a little, spinning around to see Rhodey holding his hands up in a ‘you’re okay’ gesture.

“For the love of-” A.J. says, putting a hand over a heart that isn’t beating any faster but the gesture calms him. “I didn’t hear you come in.”

“I’ll admit, I’m surprised I can still sneak up on you.” Rhodey says, fighting back a smile and A.J. gives him a half-hearted glare.

“Yeah, yeah. I know, but I don’t run the sensors all the time.” A.J. tells him. “It’d be too much to take in if I did it constantly.”

“That makes sense.” Rhodey says. “It’s a lot of information for the brain to process.”

“I don’t have a brain anymore remember? Or at least…not in the common way that someone would reference it.” A.J. cringes at it.

“Your mind is still in there, sure maybe the hardware is different now but your mind is still you. Vision said that you could still be overwhelmed if you push it too hard…You’re not a machine.” Rhodey tells him and A.J. gives him a smile.

“Yeah, I keep forgetting that these days. The lines are really blurry.” He says before he looks at the screens. “So, I think I may have found a way to keep Loki inside the Containment Pod.”

“Oh? Already?” Rhodey asks, coming over and A.J. nods.

“Yeah. I think running a current of ARC energy through the system might create an energy barrier that he won’t be able to phase through.”

“Like Vision?”

“Just like Vision.” A.J. says. “I don’t fully know why yet, but the ARC energy seems to be a kind of kryptonite to Infinity Stones and possibly alien demi-gods.”

“That’s amazing.” Rhodey replies and A.J. nods.

“It’s a theory, but a pretty solid looking one from the data we have on file. Did you want to take a look at it for me?”

“Of course, I’ll send it on to the Council once I’m finished if you want.”

“Probably for the best, I don’t want to spoil them with too many calls from ‘Tony Stark’.” A.J. says and Rhodey glances at the screens.

“Did you watch the footage?” He asks and A.J. doesn’t pretend.

“I thought about it.” He admits. “But then I decided to stay out of it. I don’t think it’s healthy for me to fixate on them.”

“Them?”

“Well, just Bruce for now but when the others come back? If I can’t contain myself with Bruce what hope do I have of keeping the others at a distance?”

“Good point.” Rhodey agrees. “Well, he wants to speak with you.”

“I figured.”

“I told him I’d ask you.”

“How did he take that?” A.J. asks and Rhodey crosses his arms in thought.

“He said he understood and that he was just worried. He watched the footage that got released from the base and he knows a bit more about your previous health than anyone else.” Rhodey says. “He wasn’t far off.”

“I don’t doubt it.” A.J. replies. “Did you talk to him about the Accords?”

“He’s in the process of sitting down with an Accords Liaison and putting his signature on it.” Rhodey tells him and there’s something there in his tone that A.J. picks up on.

“What’s wrong?”

“Hmm?”

“What’s wrong?” A.J. repeats. “You sound…angry?” Rhodey sighs and flips through a few of the screens, looking at the four different ideas that A.J. has created to contain their ‘guest’. A.J. lets him have as long as he needs to get his thoughts in order.

“I guess I am.” He admits after a while.

“About Bruce?”

“Yeah…about all of them if I’m being honest.”

“How so?”

“We did all this work, fought against all sides to come out the other side with something that could actually be a good thing for everyone involved…and they just get to waltz in here when it’s all said and done and reap the benefits of it without any of the prices that we had to pay.” Rhodey shakes his head. “I want to say it’s not fair, but I also know that’s just how the world works.”

“…I’m not dead.” A.J. tells him gently, reading between the lines about the ‘price paid’ and Rhodey clenches his fist and looks away, letting out a harsh breath. “I’m still here.”

“But you _died_.” Rhodey snaps. “Rogers put his fucking hands on you and he didn’t stop until…and then he just left you behind and he gets to come back and we can’t even get justice for it.” A.J. just stands there, letting Rhodey vent his anger. “And I know – I _know_ that asshole is going to come in here with his head held high and I’m just going to have to smile and deal with it.” Rhodey shakes his head. “I don’t know if I’m that strong Tones.” He admits softly and A.J. comes over and puts a hand on his arm, offering comfort and a promise that he’s here. “I don’t know if I’m that strong.” Rhodey repeats and A.J. tugs lightly and envelopes the other man in a hug and just lets him hold onto him.

+++

Bruce answers the call seconds after A.J. places it and for a moment it surprises him with how quickly the other man responds.

“Tony?” Bruce asks.

“Hey Bruce.” A.J. replies, sitting on a stool in the lab while looking down at his hands. He thought that he was ready for this call, but actually hearing the other man’s voice seems to threaten to undo something inside of him. There are emotions there: loss, confusion, abandonment…frustration and rage that A.J. hadn’t been prepared to come to the surface. He’s glad he’s alone.

“Are you okay?” Bruce asks immediately. “I saw, I saw the footage and I know about your sternum…are you okay?”

“I’m alive.” A.J. says carefully. “I won’t lie, things are…complicated, but I’m alive.”

“How bad is it?” Bruce asks and A.J. can’t help but be slightly fascinated with how his hands have started shaking. It still never ceased to amaze him the ticks that this form could mimic from his first one. Or maybe that isn’t the form at all, and it’s just Tony trapped in here.

“…It’s bad.” He admits. “I don’t think…I don’t think I’m going to be coming back to the Avengers.”

“What?” Bruce says and it’s so full of disbelief.

“Look, I can’t…” A.J. takes a small breath, catching himself and taking a different route. “I can’t talk for long.”

“Your lungs?” Bruce jumps on the smallest piece of information. “God I could rip Rogers apart.”

“Don’t.” A.J. tells him and his voice sounds so tired. He hasn’t felt this tired in what feels like forever. “Just…don’t.” Dum-E rolls over and gently taps his hands and A.J. gives him a small smile as he reaches out and does a tiny connection for a brief moment to let the droid know that he’s okay. Dum-E must sense something else though because he doesn’t leave his side. “I’m glad you’re back Bruce, I’m glad you’re okay. I hope that everything works out better for everyone this time around.” A.J. tells him and he’s not surprised to find out that he really means it.

“Tony…”

“No, seriously Bruce. What’s done is done and it can’t be changed, it can’t be undone.” A.J. tells him. “And I…I don’t want this to be the note that I leave everything on. I don’t want to pull anyone over the coals and I don’t wish anything bad…so please…if you can, for me, let it go.” There must be something fatalistic sounding in his words because it sounds like Bruce does a small hiccup.

“Tony…I’m…I’m sorry, God I’m so sorry.”

“Hey, you know me. Where one door’s closed and all that.” A.J. says and he aims for playful but somehow it still sounds sad. “Don’t worry about me Bruce. Everything’s going to be fine.”

“…you promise?” Bruce asks and it sounds like Bruce is begging him for reassurance that he can’t give. A.J. sighs.

“I wish I could.” He says and all at once, this is too much. It’s too much, too soon. “I’ve…I’ve got to go Bruce, it was good talking with you.”

“Okay…okay.” Bruce says. “Um just…just be okay Tony. Whatever you need…just be okay.”

“I’ll do my best.” A.J. promises him and he cuts the call short before Bruce can respond. Dum-E reaches for him again and he lets the bot wrap its arm over his shoulder as he leans into it, finding tears sliding down his face that he thought he’d already cried.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for the amazing reviews everyone! Here's the next chapter for you! 
> 
> Tag Notice:  
> There's some Loki/Tony showing up at this point. I'm not sure if it's going anywhere, but it's certainly existing. Just a heads up. No I'm not saying it'll stick around forever or that it's a final pairing, I'm just giving a heads up.

“I don’t believe that we’ve had time to converse while you’ve been down here.” Loki says with a grin as he leans casually against the glass nearest to where A.J. is kneeling and working with the new ARC generator that’s hopefully going to keep him inside the Pod this time. “It’s been frightfully boring, with only Stark’s machines to entertain me.”

“We’ve brought a television down here for you.” A.J. says, twisting some wires together and grabbing one of the tools lying next to him. “Find something to watch, I’m sure there has to be something interesting on.”

“I believe I’m already doing that.” Loki replies and A.J. glances up at where he’s looking down at him.

“I doubt I’m more interesting than a telenovela.” A.J. says after a moments pause and Loki grins.

“I don’t know, I think you might be.” He continues to watch him work and A.J. makes sure to keep his hands out of sight of the demi-god least he somehow get an idea about getting out from how he saw the system go in. There’s blessed silence again before his sensors alert him to the sudden use of magic and he’s able to prevent himself from flinching when Loki speaks practically right next to his ear. “You still haven’t told me who you are.” Loki says and A.J. just continues on with what he’s working on like it doesn’t even bother him – which it totally does and it seems to entertain Loki with how he’s pretending it doesn’t.

“I’m one of the people tasked with the security features in this room during your stay here.” A.J. repeats his earlier statement to the Asgardian and Loki chuckles, clearly amused. “And I believe that you’re meant to reside _inside_ the cell Mr. Laufeyson.”

“And I believe you’re the one who is supposed to magically keep me there with one of Stark’s little toys.” Loki drawls back at him. “I’m merely giving you more…what was it you called it? Data? Ah yes, I am merely giving you more data to work with.” Loki has a smile on his face in A.J.’s peripheral that just reeks of false sincerity.

“All the data in the world isn’t going to help if the Council feels that you are in breach of your agreement with them.” A.J. warns him and Loki doesn’t reply but he doesn’t go back into the Pod either. He just seems content to sit there next to A.J., taking him in and trying to ‘solve’ him. A.J. figures he can leave it alone for right now as he just presses on with his task.

“You like quid pro quo.” Loki says suddenly and it feels out of the blue just enough that A.J. glances at him. “Something given for something else given.”

“…perhaps.” He says slowly. “I guess it depends on the exchange. What are you asking for?”

“Does that matter?”

“I like to know the terms of the agreement _before_ I agree to it.” A.J. tells him and he gets a smirk like he’s done something that Loki approves of…God Rhodey’s going to kill him. He wasn’t supposed to end up on the demi-god’s hit list more than he already was.

“A name.” Loki says before he looks at A.J. “I wish for your name.” A.J. takes a moment to just regard the other man.

“My name.” He repeats slowly. “You want my name? Why?”

“I cannot keep referring to you as ‘the one who is tasked with keeping me in this cell’ now can I?” Loki tells him. “It doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue.”

“And what do I get for giving it to you?” A.J. asks and Loki shrugs.

“What do you want?” Loki offers and A.J. shakes his head, catching himself a little and looking back at his work.

“I’ve been told not to engage with you.” A.J. tells him. “This seems like engaging.”

“You’ve been ‘engaging’ with me for the last few minutes, what harm is there in a few more?” Loki replies and A.J. thinks about it and he thinks about how Rhodey is certainly going to maim him for this.

“Perhaps…” He says slowly before he looks back at Loki. “I want to know – for real – when I start this up if it’s actually doing anything or if it isn’t.” Loki seems to think about it for a moment before he shrugs.

“Agreed.” He says after a moment and A.J. nods.

“Agreed.” He tells him back and Loki gets a strange grin.

“Shall we shake on it? I believe that’s how you silly little humans do it here to create the pact? Or perhaps we could use more interesting methods of showing our commitment to our agreement.” Loki’s smirk turns a little mocking again and A.J ignores him as he hits the final connection before closing the casing. He continues to ignore the demi-god’s poking as he motions for Loki to go back inside when he stands and Loki does a small mocking sort of tilt of his head as if saying ‘your wish is my command’ before he phases back inside the Pod. “FRIDAY, please tell Mr. Stark that we’re ready to turn on the power now.”

 ** _‘Of course, standby please.’_** FRIDAY responds before there’s the faint humming of the ARC turning on. **_‘System online.’_**

“Thank you FRIDAY.” A.J. says with a small nod before he looks at Loki. “Moment of truth.”

“An interesting turn of phrase considering our deal.” Loki replies before he flickers for a moment and nothing happens. He gets a mildly inconvenienced look on his face before he reaches out and puts his hand on the glass, and the sensors go haywire at the surge of strange energy going through them – but where they bend they bounce back moments later. “…It seems as though Stark has outdone himself.” He admits and it looks like it costs him something to admit it. “I do not seem to be able to release myself from this container at present.” A.J. fights back a proud smile and he doesn’t say anything as he leans down to pick up his work bag, placing everything back in it and zipping it up before he stands and looks Loki right in the eyes.

“A.J.” He tells him before he turns around and walks out of the room with his head held high.

+++

“Do you actually think he’s stuck in there?” Rhodey asks, his arms crossed across his chest and A.J. shrugs.

“I think he told the truth that he’s stuck in there _right now_.” He replies. “I’ve got the Iron Legion fully prepped with a secondary pulse of ARC reactor energy if he starts pushing through. It might buy us a little more time to get Thor or Carol in here if he decides he’s done playing prisoner.” A.J. glances at Rhodey. “How did the meeting with the Council go? Have they managed to come to an accord on anything yet?”

“…The others will be here in two days.” Rhodey tells him. “And as for Loki, they’re still disagreeing fundamentally with him about his personalized agreement. They’re looking like they’re going to be at it for a while.”

“The longer they drag their feet the more likely it is that he gets fed up and starts causing issues.”

“You think I don’t know that?” Rhodey says with a tired sigh. “But they’re determined to show that they have some kind of power or control over him and Loki’s not playing ball.”

“What has Thor said, do we know?” A.J. asks and Rhodey nods.

“He signed the most recent agreement. He’s officially an Avenger again.” Rhodey tells him. “Oh, and speaking of ‘official Avengers’ when did you want to start transitioning?”

“We’ll have to give it a few weeks at least after Rogers and the others return. The Council will be too on edge with everything that could go wrong with those morons and the public relations will be a nightmare that we don’t need to add a new Iron Man pilot to the mix.”

“Too much too soon?” Rhodey asks and A.J. shrugs.

“More like, the straw that broke the camel’s back. We need time to show that the team is still strong even after they return and we’re not going to manage that if they think that I’m dead and some unknown is in the suit.”

“They think you’re dead right now.” Rhodey reminds him and he groans.

“Oh my god I know.” He says. “I’ve been trying to come up with ways to deal with that.”

“What’s on your mind so far?”

“There are the obvious options.” A.J. says. “I can of course take phone call interviews but that has the same problem as just operating the suit without showing anyone I’m in it, they’ll eventually call fraud.” He crosses his arms. “I could try to use an overlay like what Natasha used on SHIELD but that comes with obvious risks if anyone takes a photo.”

“Or records it.” Rhodey reminds him. “You can see it.”

“I’ve considered something absolutely crazy and then something completely out of left field.”

“…Let’s start with the crazy and give me a few minutes to prepare myself for ‘out of left field’.” Rhodey tells him and he sends him a playful grin before he turns a little somber.

“I was thinking about creating a kind of LMD.” He says. “Maybe a shell created with the express purpose of a one-time only event.”

“That’s risky.”

“I know. There are a lot of things that could go wrong, especially if I’m trying to control the LMD and be able to be engaged at the same time as I am now.” A.J. tells him. “But, I think it’s possible. I’ve been running the numbers and I think if given enough time that I can make a… well for lack of a better way of putting it, a Tony puppet. Do a partial upload and play both roles for a little while. Just long enough to have ‘Tony Stark’ reveal his long lost son in front of everyone.”

“Could you even do that though? I thought Helen said that what you managed with all this was a once in a lifetime, crazy miracle by chance sort of thing going on?” Rhodey says and his voice is worried.

“She’s not wrong, but it wouldn’t be the same thing.” A.J. tells him. “I’m a full consciousness completely uploaded into this form. That’s…insane, even for me and I’m living in it.” He says. “But, a kind of robot with a kind of synthetic overlay would allow the Network uplink to be established just like with the Iron Legion or the Iron Man armor and I’d be able to control them remotely just like I do with them.”

“It takes a lot out of you to do that though.” Rhodey reminds him and he nods.

“I know, that’s why I said it would only be a one-time event. Create the LMD, do a press conference or something and then destroy it.”

“Why would you destroy it?”

“Do you want the chance that someone finds it and figures out what we’re doing?” A.J. asks and Rhodey shakes his head.

“Yeah, no that doesn’t sound good.” He agrees. “Okay, so if that’s ‘crazy’ what’s ‘left field’?”

“…Loki.” A.J. tells him and Rhodey just stares at him for a moment.

“Hold up, I’m going to need you to repeat that. For a moment I thought you said that you wanted to tell _Loki_ of all people what’s going on and trust him to impersonate you _only once_ and for your benefit?”

“He’s a shapeshifter and he’d be able to pull it off perfectly.” A.J. tells him. “I don’t like it, but it’s an option.”

“It’s a non-option.” Rhodey fires back. “It’s a terrible idea. Why not just ask Strange to do some crazy magic or something?”

“I know it’s a terrible idea to ask Loki, but if he can be reasoned with it might work if my other idea doesn’t pan out. And I don’t think that Strange would be able to create a doppelganger convincing enough to fool someone like Christine. Loki would.”

“No, look I know I said I was going to stay out of it but that’s a terrible backup plan. We need something better.”

“Let’s try plan one and if that doesn’t work out, we’ll come up with a few new options for plan B.” A.J. agrees and Rhodey nods eventually.

“Yeah, let’s do that. Besides, it all might be a moot point if Loki doesn’t come to an agreement with the Council and breaks out to start causing havoc.”

“…Yeah, that could be bad.” A.J. agrees. “I’ll take a look at it. See if there’s some magic or something I can work between the two.”

“You don’t have to do that.”

“I know, but I think it’d be a good idea. The quicker we get his ‘oath of fealty’ or whatever Thor was calling it, the sooner we can move on to the next issue.” A.J. pauses as something crosses his mind. “You said they’d be here in two days?” He asks, changing the subject slightly and Rhodey knows exactly what he’s asking.

“Yeah, why?”

“…I think you should call a meeting. I know Carol knows about Loki being here and maybe Danny does…maybe Strange too but who the hell knows what that guy actually knows, but I think it would be best if we came to an agreement that this should be kept under wraps for as long as we can manage.”

“Why? It’s going to get out and it’ll look like we were hiding something.”

“No, the Council is fully aware. Our asses are covered if it gets out ahead of time.” A.J. says with a shake of his head. “I’m more concerned about the Rogers Brigade.”

“What do you mean?”

“If Clint finds out that Loki’s here, he’s going to spiral. He may be a dick of epic proportions…but I know a thing or two about spiraling and I wouldn’t even wish it on Justin Hammer.” A.J. tells him. “And there’s the added issue of Rogers and the others. If they feel like they’re duty bound to side with Clint or if they just feel like they need to deal with Loki, things could get bad really quick. Can you imagine Wanda and Loki going at it?” Rhodey flinches at the thought that A.J.’s just presented him with. “Exactly. I think we should keep it under wraps.”

“I’ll talk to the others, I’m sure I can get them to agree.” Rhodey says and A.J. nods. “But you know that even if we manage to keep it quiet, the minute he becomes an Avenger we’re going to have a problem.”

“I know.” A.J. admits. “And there’s nothing I can do about that. The best I can do is try to navigate this in the kindest way I can.”

“Barton doesn’t deserve your kindness.”

“No one really deserves kindness Honey Bear.” A.J. says with a small smile. “That’s kind of what’s so awesome about it.” The smile falls off his face though when he pulls up memories of the days after Ultron. Of Wanda haunting the halls and haunting his nightmares, that cruel glint in her eye and that unspoken demand that Tony pay her reparations for an imagined slight against her with his every breath. “I think it would be best if we were able to slowly integrate Loki into the team. Let’s get him signed up and then we’ll send him to Vision and Britain. We could get him and Thor to be extra members on their roster. Thor would love being stationed out there, so close to Jane and it’ll allow a separation between Barton and Loki for a while. Maybe it’ll give him the time he needs to come to terms with it without having to wander through the halls of the Compound worrying that Loki could be around any corner.”

“I’ll talk to the others about it.” Rhodey agrees. “It sounds like a solid plan so I don’t see them having any issues with it.”

“Well, here’s to things going according to plan then.” A.J. says with a small amused grin and Rhodey shakes his head.

“Why did you have to jinx us?” He asks and A.J. chuckles.

“Honey Bear, I’m almost a hundred percent sure that our lives are just one big jinx.”

“Ugh.” Rhodey says with an overdramatic sigh and he rubs a hand over his face in resignation. “No arguments there.”


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Eh, I had this typed up and thought, why not? So here you go!

If there’s one easy thing to admit to himself, it’s how odd it feels having Bruce back down in the labs with him.

Back before Ultron, it was a daily occurrence to see the quiet doctor milling about the lab with his vials and his own experiments as Tony pressed on with his own projects for SI or the Avengers. Truth be told, A.J. misses those days with a deep ache inside of him that leave him grateful for Doctor Weiss’ sessions.

_“What about having him back is so distressing to you?” Weiss asks over the screen and A.J. sighs._

_“The nostalgia I guess?” He admits. “But not nostalgia for how it was, but for how I_ thought _it was.”_

The two of them haven’t interacted much past brief moments of crossing each other while grabbing new items for their work. He’s caught Bruce out of the corner of his eye watching him with a kind of curiosity about who this young man down in the lab is, but he hasn’t reached out to introduce himself past their initial interaction and his initial misconception.

_“Hello, I’m Bruce. Bruce Banner.” Bruce offered as he held out his hand. “Are you Harley?”_

_“No, I’m A.J.” A.J. replied with a small smile. “Harley’s not here right now, but you’ll probably see him around soon enough.” He’s secretly impressed and amused that Bruce pulled Harley’s name out of a hat._

_“Oh, I’m sorry. I saw you in Tony’s lab and I just assumed…”_

_“It’s alright.”_

_“Do you work for Tony? Or are you an Avenger?”_

_“I’m just an extra set of hands for right now while Mr. Stark’s away.” A.J. tells him with a straight face, avoiding the bigger question of the two._

_“His assistant?” Bruce asks and A.J. nods._

_“Pretty much. I’m here to fill in while he can’t be.” A.J. watches a kind of sadness cross Bruce’s face and it takes everything in him not to crack and tell the truth._

_“How’s he doing? Do you know?”_

_“I’m sorry, I can’t talk about Mr. Stark to anyone outside of Colonel Rhodes.” A.J. tells him and Bruce nods, pulling himself together._

_“Of course, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have put you on the spot. It’s nice to meet you A.J.”_

_“Likewise Dr. Banner.”_

The looming threat of Rogers return hasn’t had A.J. as tense as he might have thought he’d be, knowing that in twenty four hours his murderer was going to be walking through the halls undoubtedly with his head held high like Rhodey claimed. A.J. feels more frustration and worry with the problems that Rogers return is going to bring more than the return of the man himself and he thinks that’s progress.

Maybe not good progress but progress none the less.

He’s seen the agreements that King T’Challa has managed to get the Accords Council to agree to – way to lax and forgiving if you ask him, especially with Natasha and her previous disregard of her oath to stay true to the Accords the first time around – and most of the charges, the big ones, have been dropped. If he weren’t so annoyed he’d almost be impressed.

But annoyance still wins out when he’s bored enough to think about it.

There’s a beep signaling the arrival of someone into the inner lab and A.J. looks up from where he’s been welding the new upgrade that Dum-E asked for just in time to see Rhodey step in and the door slide shut behind him.

“Hey, what’s up?” A.J. asks when he sees the serious look on Rhodey’s face and the other man comes forward and grabs the other stool, sitting down next to him.

“Nothing, I just wanted to check in with you before the meeting today.” Rhodey tells him and A.J. arches an eyebrow.

“Check in or check ‘up’?” He asks and a small, slightly guilty, grin tugs at Rhodey’s lips.

“I’m that obvious?” He asks and A.J. matches his smile.

“A little.” He tells him before he shuts everything off and puts down the tools, turning to face Rhodey completely. “So hit me with it, what’s got you worried?”

“It’s sooner than you wanted.” Rhodey says. “I just want to make sure that you aren’t rushing into this because you’re feeling some ticking clock hanging over you or feeling like Rogers’ return forces your hand in some way.”

“To a point it does.” A.J. says and Rhodey frowns. “No, really. It does.” He repeats. “T’Challa pulled off a miracle for them that’s a kick in our face. Nothing we can do about it. Instead we need to prepare for what comes next. The ‘plan’ has practically been shot to hell. I’m not really surprised that we’re having to up timetables again.”

“I just…I just want to be sure that you’re ready for this.” Rhodey says. “We could always change the plan if you’ve changed your mind.”

“Changed my mind how?”

“I don’t know.” Rhodey says but it’s clear that he’s lying and he looks away when A.J. gives him the look calling him out on it. “I just…I want to be sure that you’re not reacting to things and not fully realizing that you could just…take a step back.”

“Bow out you mean?”

“If you wanted to? Yeah.” Rhodey replies and A.J. feels a large amount of fondness flow through him.

“Rhodey, I know what I’m getting into. I’m still committed to this path.” He tells him before he reaches out and puts a hand over Rhodey’s on his lap. “But thank you. Thank you for understanding if I had.”

“Always man. Always.” Rhodey says before he clears his throat and A.J. lets him recollect himself. “So, we’ve got everyone coming. Danny’s just sent the final reply for his team and Strange just sent in his own agreement to be present at the meeting as well.”

“Strange is going to be there?”

“He is, but it’s more because he wants to check over the Containment Pod upgrades that you did to make sure that we _actually_ have Loki contained.”

“Nice. I’m all for that.” A.J. says and Rhodey snorts.

“It would have been ‘nice’ if he’d come sooner.”

“He was out being unfathomable.” A.J. says with a grin. “He couldn’t answer the psychic hotline I guess.”

“Yeah, well whatever it is he was doing, he’s going to be there for the ‘reveal’. The question now is, do you want Banner there?” Rhodey watches him as he contemplates the question.

“Bruce is an active member of the Avengers. Calling a meeting like this without him there could cause us problems in the long run. That’s why this meeting is our last chance to reveal me before Rogers and them have full authorization to be present.”

“I’ll gladly take the reprimand if you don’t feel comfortable with him knowing.”

“Thank you, but no. I don’t mind. It’ll be a good test run for me.” A.J. assures him and Rhodey must see that he means it because he relaxes and nods.

“Okay, then let’s get this show on the road.”

“Lets.”

+++

It’s hilariously weird to be in the meeting alongside the empty Iron Man armor that’s usually present in the place of Tony Stark for these things. Everyone else is so used to the image that they don’t even pay it a second mind as they greet it where it stands and take their seats around the giant table.

A.J. doesn’t even _pretend_ to not get a giant smile on his face when Harley walks through the doors, his eyes looking around the room before landing on him and grinning back at him with a wave before he comes over and takes a seat. There’s a nervous energy in the boy and it’s really only matched by Peter sitting across the table from them. Peter who has been doing his best to pretend that he doesn’t know what’s going on and who is failing rather spectacularly.

“You ready for this?” A.J. whispers to Harley and Harley gives him a grin.

“I’ve been ready for this for years.” He admits and A.J. can’t help the amused snort that he does at the answer.

From the moment he walked in, there have been eyes on him and with each new face that enters the looks get added to. It’s clear that they’re all curious about who the two new faces are and A.J.’s not surprised with how Bruce stops by the armor to have a short conversation with it when he finally comes in – he’ll have to ask FRIDAY later what she said in his place – before Rhodey calls everyone to settle in and he turns to the group looking so uncertain and unsure before his eyes land on A.J. and he gets a small smile before he comes over.

“Hello A.J.” He greets. “Is this seat taken?”

“Not at all Dr. Banner.” A.J. offers and Bruce takes a seat.

“Thank you.” He tells him and A.J. leans back to let Bruce see Harley.

“Doctor Banner, _this_ is Harley Keener.” A.J. introduces and Bruce gets a smile as he reaches across and shakes Harley’s hand. “He thought I was you.” A.J. explains to Harley’s curious face and Harley chuckles.

“Nice to meet you Doctor Banner. Tony’s talked about you.”

“Likewise.” Bruce replies before Rhodey pulls the whole group into the meeting at hand.

“So, there are some things on the agenda today that we need to discuss before moving forward.” Rhodey says, the absolute picture of calm and commanding and A.J. is strangely so proud of him. “We need to discuss where the Council is currently at with Loki, we need to discuss what is to be expected of us during the probation period for the members showing up tomorrow and we need to discuss upcoming new additions to the roster.” It’s almost hilarious how all the eyes turn to them at the final statement that Rhodey says. “Please be aware, there is information being released in this meeting that is still confidential to those outside of the Avengers Initiative and as such your discretion is expected and appreciated. If you do not feel like that is something you can do, please step out of the room and we will call you back in once the information has been given.” There are no takers to his offer, not the A.J. thought there were going to be.

 _** ‘You ready Boss?’ **_ FRIDAY asks over the network and A.J. sends her a green light as the armor steps forward to stand at the front of the meeting table.

“Hey everyone.” A.J.’s earlier recorded message starts playing. “As you already know, and if you don’t know I’m sure you’ve suspected, I’m going to have to step down in my commitments to the Avengers Initiative and to Iron Man. Let me be clear, no I am not dead, but I am in a state where I can no longer keep up my previous lifestyle choices.” There’s some shifting around the table at the words. “So, I’ve reached out to a few people and I’m doing everything in my power to make sure that I don’t leave the Avengers in any kind of bind. As such, I’ve brought in two of my best to fill my spot.” Harley glances at A.J. and they both nod before they stand up and make their way to the front of the room where the armor and Rhodey are waiting for them. “This is Harley Keener, who will be stepping into the newly created Rescue armor.” Harley does a little wave. “He will have full authorization to all of my armors should the need arise, and will of course be in direct communication with me after the transition period if anyone needs to get in contact with me.” Harley takes a step back once his introduction is finalized and A.J. feels like his breath is caught in his chest even though he knows he doesn’t really need to breathe. “As for the Iron Man armor and the Iron Man name, that will be passed on over the course of the next few months. Unfortunately this transition is a little more complicated and is the reason why I am requesting discretion from all of you. If this information gets out sooner than we planned for, there could be massive fallout that I would have rather avoided.” The armor looks around the room before continuing. “Let me introduce the soon to be pilot of the Iron Man armor. This is A.J., otherwise known as Anthony Stark Jr. – my son.”


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're finally fully caught up to The Roles We Play! The fun begins!

A.J. checks out of the Compound the day that the (previously) rogue Avengers return. He doesn’t really give an excuse for it, he just heads out to the Manor and hides out over there for a few days.

They’re a nice few days. Doctor Weiss has been kind enough to make plenty of time for him for several unscheduled sessions and while he initially considered staying down in the lab and working on some new projects to keep his mind busy – he opts to do things a little differently in the end. As such, his days away from the Compound are spent mostly outside the Manor and outside the looming threat of dealing with Rogers again. Things like walking in the park or finding a nice warm tree to sit under and read a book while people just walk by become the norm. Harley’s had to go back home so he treats Peter to a science museum and it’s still so strange to stand in line without dozens upon dozens of people clamoring for his attention. To be invisible. It almost feels like a superpower and he knows how foolish he sounds when he thinks about it.

A.J. makes the conscious decision not to think about how all of that is going to change and just takes the moments of freedom second by second.

“So how does it work exactly?” Peter asks as he munches on a hotdog and A.J. just takes a sip of water. “Am I allowed to ask that? It’s not weird is it? Or, I mean it doesn’t upset you right? Cuz that’s the last thing I want to do I promise-”

“Peter, it’s okay.” A.J. cuts him off with a small smile. “I don’t mind you asking. What do you mean? How does what work?”

“I don’t know…all of it I guess?”

“To be completely honest, we don’t know.” A.J. admits. “We’re still trying to figure it out ourselves. For the most part everything is pretty similar to how it was before. Little things have changed, but not much.” Peter reaches out and pokes the exposed part of his wrist and A.J. arches an eyebrow at him.

“Do you feel that?”

“Yeah Pete, I feel that.”

“That’s awesome.” Peter says with a huge smile and A.J. finds himself matching it. “Can you, I don’t know turn it off?”

“It’s not easy to do, but yeah. I’ve done it. It’s like closing down a background program. I keep it online though, easier to respond to things naturally that way.”

“Is it still the same though? Like do you feel it and process it like you did before or do you get a little window that pops up that says something like ‘section 98B is experiencing pain’ or something like that?”

“I’m not a terminator.” A.J. laughs. “I don’t get computer code and window pop ups in my brain most of the time without being connected to the Network unless I’m running some kind of system diagnostic or program. Although I guess if I’d been stabbed or something or had something happened that compromised the functionality of a part of my body I’d probably get a few pop ups that would warn me.”

“I stand by what I said before, awesome.” Peter gushes and A.J. shakes his head with an amused smile and they continue the day like two normal people amongst the crowd instead of a genetically altered teenager and an android with a human mind downloaded inside of it.

Bruce doesn’t say anything to him when he returns, he just gets a small smile and does a little head incline to acknowledge A.J.’s return to the labs and he’s grateful for it. He knows that Bruce probably thinks that he went to go spend time with his potentially dying father and he’d rather not have to come up with lies or tell the other man that he can’t talk about it if Bruce were to inquire.

Bruce seems to understand that though, and A.J. hasn’t felt like he’s been put on the spot when they cross paths down in the labs or when A.J. offers his assistance as an extra set of hands during an experiment. He doesn’t even think about it, about how unwise it might be to work side by side in a lab again with Bruce until the other man gives him a smile when they finish up for the night.

“You remind me of him.” Bruce says and A.J. looks at him with a confused look on his face. “Your father.” Bruce clarifies and A.J. tilts his head.

“I do?”

“You think like he does.” Bruce says and it takes everything in A.J. not to tense. “You look at a problem the same way he does. It’s clear he taught you.”

“Yeah, he was pretty hands on.” A.J. says and Bruce nods.

“It shows.” He says. “Harley had a little bit of it too. It good to see that Tony got to pass that on. The world needs more people like that.” Bruce gets a slightly sad look. “Too bad we didn’t seem to realize it before it was too late.” He almost seems to whisper to himself before he catches himself and smiles at A.J. “Sorry, ignore me. I just, just wanted to say good job.”

“…Thanks.” A.J. replies and Bruce walks away, heading deeper into the lab and A.J. makes the choice not to follow him like he might have once upon a time. A.J. and Bruce don’t know each other that well and it’s clear that Bruce needs a moment to collect himself.

Bruce doesn’t say anything when A.J. shows up with a hot cup of coffee a little while later and just puts it down next to him, but he does smile up at him with a grateful look when he takes it and A.J. just heads off to finish what he was working on earlier.

 ** _‘Sir?’_** FRIDAY says and it’s still so weird to hear her refer to him as anything other than ‘Boss’ and it’s a strange melancholic throwback to JARVIS, but it’s what FRIDAY’s chosen and he’ll let her keep it.

“Yeah?”

 ** _‘Rogers has requested that his sketchbook be returned to him.’_** FRIDAY says and A.J. frowns.

“Okay? Didn’t we put all his stuff back in his new room?”

**_‘…The sketchbook was down here in the lab.’_ **

“Was?”

 ** _‘Dum-E might have thrown it in the waste basket some time ago.’_** FRIDAY replies and A.J. can’t help the smile on his face at that.

“I see, I’ll go grab it.” He says as he goes over to the aforementioned area and digs through Dum-E’s trash bin. It’s not hard to find the sketchbook and he’s slightly glad that it doesn’t have any damage to it that Rogers might mistake as an intentional destruction of his property. “Found it.”

 ** _‘He is currently away from his room if you wished to return it. The others have expressed an intention to force their way down here at their leisure.’_** A.J. frowns and connects to the Network and links up to the Compound systems.

_** Security Footage Retrieved. Playback Initiated. **_

_“He’s down in the labs right?” Clint says. “Why don’t we just go say hi?”_

_“FRIDAY says that my access to the labs has been revoked, and I think it’s safe to guess that all of yours has been too.” Steve says._

_“And that’s supposed to what? Stop me?” Clint says. “Cap, if you want into the labs, I’ll get you into the labs.”_

_“Any of us will.” Wanda says. “If you are truly worried about Stark, he should answer you.”_

_“He doesn’t want to.” Steve says._

_“I don’t care.” Wanda replies._

_** End Footage Playback **_

“They’ve got to be kidding me.” A.J. mutters with a sigh as he pulls out of the system and runs a hand over his face. “FRIDAY, all of their accesses have been revoked right?”

**_‘Of course.’_ **

“Good, keep it that way. If any of them try to force their way down here I want it to go full DEFCON red all up on their asses.”

 ** _‘Will do sir.’_** FRIDAY says and there sounds like there’s a small amount of _hope_ in her voice that clearly wants the others to try something.

“Keep an eye on them while I go drop this off.” A.J. says as he grabs a sticky note off of the desk and writes a quick message on it before sticking it to the front of the sketchbook. He makes his way through the halls and drops the sketchbook on Rogers’ bed.

He doesn’t stick around.

+++

He runs into Steve on the field despite his best intentions, but the kid being held hostage feels like a situation that trumps A.J.’s personal need to stay away from the blond. He uplinks to the armor and sends it out on the field, swinging around and falling into old patterns like riding a bicycle.

“Tony.” Steve’s voice comes from behind him when he’s finishing up with the cops on scene and he turns to see the blond coming over towards him. “It’s…It’s good to see you.” There’s something in his tone, something about how he says it that just irks A.J. on a deep level. Like Steve thinks that this is going to be some emotional reunion between them.

“Can’t say the same.” Slips out before he fully means for it too and he just calls the armor to return to the Compound.

He pushes Steve out of his mind after that and focuses instead on Helen’s arrival and the next few tests that need to be run.

+++

“A.J.?” Rhodey asks later as A.J. all but tears out of Helen’s temporary office slash clinic. “Are you okay?” He questions and A.J. nods.

“Of course, absolutely. I’m great. Peachy. Couldn’t be better.” The words come tumbling out in an embarrassed mash of syllables. Rhodey arches an eyebrow at him as Helen steps out and he swears that woman has a smirk on her face like she’s the fricken devil – if A.J. believed in such a concept.

“What happened?” Rhodey asks and she just shrugs.

“He passed his physical. Everything’s in working order.” She says neutrally and A.J. chokes on air a little somehow. The other two look at him and he shakes his head.

“We are never going to talk about this again.” A.J. says firmly and Helen nods with a small, secret (secretly _evil_ ) chuckle as she heads back inside and Rhodey just glances at him with a baffled look. “You _really_ don’t want to know.” A.J. warns him, “and I will go to the _grave_ with this secret.”

And he means it.

Dear god he means it.

+++

“So everything’s rolling now.” Rhodey says as A.J. looks at the screens. “How’s the Council coming along?”

“Pretty well actually. I’ve just sent in the new options to both sides and seeing what they bite on and what they don’t.” A.J. replies. “Loki seems to be amenable to what’s being offered. So I don’t know, I guess I’m hopeful.” He turns around to look at Rhodey.

“The Council knows that you’re training a ‘new replacement’ for the armor. They want an agreement with you as soon as possible.”

“They’ll get it once we get the press conference done.” A.J. tells him. “It can’t be any sooner than that. We took a big enough of a risk telling the Avengers about me. The chance that it’ll stay quiet if we tell them is pretty much zero.”

“Yeah.” Rhodey agrees. “I’ll keep them off your back.”

“Thanks.”

“Have you decided what you’re going to do about the press conference yet? Pepper’s already started the wheel and it’s getting pretty close to the bottom of the hill.”

“I know.” A.J. admits. “Helen and I have been working on a new shell but…it’s just not working to the level I need it to work at.”

“But I thought you said you already had a working prototype?” Rhodey asks and A.J. nods slightly.

“In theory. We have a shell that looks far too much like a love child between Ultron and Vision since we haven’t added a synthetic overlay to it…but it just doesn’t cut it.” A.J. admits. “The movements, the would-be facial expressions. I don’t think…I don’t think we’re going to manage in time. Not in any way that’s going to fool a real life audience.”

“That’s not good.”

“I know. We’re getting closer and closer to D-Day and we’re no closer to making sure that we don’t have to rely on certain individuals that we’d rather not rely on.”

“I still stand by my earlier statement that Loki is the absolute last person we should-” Rhodey’s cut off by a knock on the door. “FRIDAY who’s there?”

 ** _‘Mr. Rogers.’_** FRIDAY replies and A.J takes a few steps back to be completely out of sight of the door as Rhodey goes to answer it.

“Can I help you Rogers?” He asks and A.J. hears Steve talking from the hallway.

“Yeah, I was just hoping that I might have a quick word with you about something.”

“I’m in a meeting. We’ll talk later.” Rhodey tells him. There’s a pause where it’s clear that Rogers hasn’t walked away before A.J. hears him speak again.

“Is Tony in there with you?” He asks and A.J. can’t help the small amount of surprise that winds through him. Either Rogers is seeing Tony Stark everywhere or he’s really good at reading Rhodey’s ‘thou shall not pass’ body language for what it is.

“I am in a private meeting Rogers. We will speak later.” Rhodey tells him and there’s a movement where A.J. can guess what Steve’s done by the way that Rhodey tenses and holds the door tighter. “Back off Rogers.”

“Is Tony in there with you?”

“No.” Rhodey tells him again. “Now go.”

“Please, I just want to talk to-”

“No.” Rhodes repeats before he leans back. “I’ll see you later Rogers.” He says in complete dismissal before he just closes the door in Steve’s face. A.J. can’t help the amused look on his face when Rhodey turns back to him.

“Feel better?” He asks and Rhodey gives him a grin.

“Maybe a little.” He admits.

 


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trying to keep up with timelines is actually really complicated when I realized that I didn't really specify in the first story. :-) So just roll with it guys, if you see a mistake please forgive it. Thanks.

 

"How's everything looking?" A.J. asks and Pepper sighs.

"Nothing outside of what we were expecting." She tells him. "Although I think the press and the general public have taken it as a sure sign that you're actually rotting away somewhere and we're just refusing to come out and say it."

"Yeah, we thought that might happen." A.J. admits, more to himself than to her. "How's it going with the whole 'heir' thing?"

"There are a lot of questions. Some people are going back through old events and things to try and determine if there was evidence of it before." She says. "I'm surprised that they haven't come out waving Harley's flag."

"If they keep digging they'll get there." A.J. chuckles before he lets a more serious look come onto his face. "Thanks Pep, for everything. I know I don't say it enough, but thanks."

"You're welcome." Pepper replies. "And you're not actually as bad at giving recognition as you think you are."

"I hope not. I think I'm pretty terrible at it." A.J. jokes and she just grins back at him.

"So, how are things going with _them_?" She asks and he doesn't need to know who 'they' are with how she emphasizes it.

"Fine, for the most part. Rhodey might kill Rogers out of sheer frustration because the moron can't seem to stay out of his office with some new complaint every twenty minutes." A.J. tells her. "And FRIDAY's watching them for any inclination to follow through on their threats to break down into the labs, but they seem to be all talk in that case."

"They better be." Pepper says and A.J. nods.

"Yeah, they seem to at least register that during the probation period they should probably _pretend_ to be on their best behavior." A.J. shrugs. "But I don't know, I'm trying to keep my distance. Vision says that Wanda shouldn't be able to read me in this form and I really doubt that Natasha or Barton paid enough attention to actually notice any similarities if Bruce hasn't, but I'd rather not take the chance if I can avoid it."

"Sounds like a good idea." She looks down at some papers on her desk. "Are you ready for this?" She asks with a kind of fake casualness and A.J. can't help the fond smile.

"You know, between you and Rhodey you're both going to make me doubt myself." He says. "...but yeah, I'm sure. Thanks though." She nods.

"Of course, if you change your mind before then though I'm sure that Harley will be more than willing to step up in the void that you would create."

"Harley was supposed to be my heir in the first place. Before all this happened." A.J. admits and he knows that Pepper already suspected. "We'll have to make sure that it levels out in such a way that he gets plenty of what's left. Hell, split it down the middle."

"I'll look into it." She tells him before she glances at her watch. "I've got to go, I'll keep in touch."

"Okay, see you Pep."

"See you." She says as she closes the screen and A.J. rubs a hand over his face before he turns back to the gutted LMD.

"Alright, let's see if we can't get you up and working." He mutters to himself as he gets back to work. Time is running out.

+++

Harley comes back by the moment that production is finished for the Rescue armor and he's practically vibrating to start the user calibrations. A.J.'s still working down in the labs, he's getting so close he can practically taste it - when Rhodey calls him.

"Is everything okay?" A.J. asks when he accepts the call and Rhodey's voice sounds exasperated and frustrated.

"Are you seeing this?" He asks.

"Give me one second and I will be." A.J. promises him before he delves into the Network and pulls up Rogers' little breakdown in the training room.

"What do you want me to do?" Rhodey asks and A.J. considers his options before he sighs.

"You can tell him that I'm fine, I don't know what difference it would make. I don't know if he'll listen to you, but I say if you can you should put him out of his misery." A.J. tells him and he doesn't need to still be seeing Rhodey's face to know that the other man isn't happy.

"Are you sure?"

"...yeah, I'm sure. It doesn't make any sense to string them along. I say tell him."

"Okay." Rhodey says and he ends the call and A.J. pulls out of the security cameras. He doesn't need to see whatever happens next. He's trying to stay as far away from Rogers and how Rogers feels about this whole thing as possible. He thinks about the letter that Vision brought him during his adjustment period and he sighs as he shakes his head and goes back to work.

+++

"It's working!" A.J. jumps up and shouts to the heavens as he runs around the lab with Dum-E in celebration. "Oh my god it works! I'm brilliant!" He rushes back over to the LMD and he could almost cry in relief. "FRIDAY call Helen and Rhodey."

**_'Calling...Helen online.'_ **

"Stark?" She asks when she picks up.

"It's working! I figured it out! We're ready for the Cradle." A.J. tells her and there's a hopeful surprise in her voice when she speaks.

"Seriously?"

"Yes! I'm on my way, I've just got to finish a few things up here and then I'll be down there and we can start the next part."

"I'll prepare the Cradle." Helen says and A.J. feels a thousand times lighter when she ends the call and Rhodey gets switched on.

"FRIDAY says you're heading to Korea to finish up the production?" He asks.

"Yeah, I'm getting ready to head out. I'll do a final check on the Pod before I go but it's looking like we've got it figured out!"

"That's amazing!"

"I know! God I wish you were here, I'd hug you so hard right now." A.J. says and he gets nudged on his side by Dum-E when he says it and he laughs, reaching over and hugging the bot instead.

"You sound excited."

"I _am_ excited. I'm thrilled. It's all coming together."

"About time we had some good news." Rhodey says with a laugh of his own. "Alright, I'll come stay at the Compound. Keep an eye on things while you're away."

"Sounds great." A.J. tells him as he signs off and he's got the smallest bounce to his step when he waves hello at Bruce and continues on into the Containment Room. Loki looks up at him and seems to get an amused smirk on his face.

"Something has you rather pleased." He observes and A.J. nods, trying to catch himself and fall back into that neutrality that's so hard to maintain sometimes.

"We've just finished a project. Post-engineering high I guess." A.J. tells him as he comes over and starts running diagnostics on the barrier.

"Are you going somewhere?" Loki asks when he seems to catch on that A.J.'s running more tests than he usually does.

"I'm going out of town with Mr. Stark." A.J. replies. "We just wanted to be sure that everything was in working order before we left." He checks a few more levels before he nods to himself. "Everything looks good." He says more to himself than the Asgardian. "Mr. Stark wanted me to tell you that he's looking over your changes to the Accords agreement and he'll have an answer for you when we return."

"I'm rather surprised that Stark hasn't come in to visit me himself, instead of sending someone in his stead." Loki gets a grin. "Not that I'm complaining of course in his choice of company."

"Mr. Stark is currently unable to come down to the Compound at this time." A.J. replies easily, ignoring the subtle poking that Loki's been doing since he got his name. "Try to stay out of trouble."

"I don't know, with my main source of entertainment gone I might grow _bored_." He tells him and A.J. just shakes his head.

"I'm sure you'll figure something out." A.J. replies before he goes to leave.

"Have a safe trip." Loki tells him, leaning back on his bed and going back to his book. A.J. pauses at the door to turn and look at him one final time.

"Thanks." He says before he leaves the room. "FRIDAY, tell Rhodey that he might want to keep an extra eye on that one."

**_'Do you believe that Loki intends to cause problems?'_ **

"Don't know, better safe than sorry. Have the Iron Legion ready to go with the backup power just in case."

**_'Of course Sir.'_ **

+++

"That's creepy." A.J. says as he looks at a perfect replica of his old face, complete with the worry lines. "Dear god that's creepy." He takes a moment to himself as Helen works in the background to prepare for the first upload.

 **_'Are you ready?'_ ** FRIDAY asks and A.J. nods.

"As ready as I'll ever be." He says as he goes over to sit next to 'Tony Stark' and he opens himself up to the Network. It's similar to connecting to the Iron Man armor or the Iron Legion, but the first connection is always the hardest to grasp ahold of. He takes a moment to be sure that he has a solid grip on the LMD before he opens its eyes and looks at Helen.

"...is it working?" She asks and he makes the LMD get his trademark smirk.

"Yup." He says through it before he struggles to halve his attention and he opens his own eyes. The data going back and forth is always so distracting. "Going to need some practice, but I think we're on the right track." He says as he tries to contain everything and adjust to the extending of his new abilities.

 **_'Boss!'_ ** FRIDAY's panic cuts through him and he jolts, cutting the connection with the LMD and he watches it fall into inactivity out of the corner of his eye.

"What's wrong?" He questions as his mind rattles in his brain.

**_'Loki is attempting to break the barrier on the pod.'_ **

"What?" A.J. snaps, sitting up straighter. "Son of a - where's Rhodey?"

**_'He's in route with Dr. Banner but Mr. Rogers is causing a scene. I fear they won't make it in time.'_ **

"I'm on it." A.J. says, linking up to the Network and reaching out over the distance with FRIDAY's guidance. He can see it all from the security footage and the cameras on the Iron Legion standing at the ready. Rhodey's already activated them and they're pushing back against the magic user but the barrier is starting to break.

The containment numbers are dropping and it's quite possible that it's going to snap if A.J. doesn't do something about it right now. It's the first time he's really pushed himself outside of controlling the Iron Man armor and he's not a hundred percent sure what he's doing, but he throws himself into it a hundred and ten percent.

He grabs onto the Iron Legion standing around the area and codes in to their ARC power sources, overriding the power limits and pushing them to the max that he can safely do before he pushes the energy into the pod. He quickly follows that up by activating the system bypass and delving into the wiring to strengthen the hold in the area's that Loki is pushing all his power against. He activates the security features one by one in a quick rush as he enters the command panel for the Pod's systems. 

It's a lot, and if he's being completely honest, it's far too much but he doesn't let up. He doesn't dare to. He continues diving in and out of systems and code to contain the Asgardian trickster, and god he should have known better than to tell him that both he and 'Mr. Stark' were going to be out of town. This was on him and his own stupidity and he wasn't about to let that jerk free.

Rhodey and Bruce rush into the room and at the sight of the human form of the Hulk, Loki immediately ceases his attack.

"What the hell are you doing?" Rhodey demands and Loki just gets a grin.

"I was bored Colonel." Loki replies in that sarcastic drawl of his. "And I was curious. I wasn't going to leave this room, I just wanted to see how much it could handle. Data and all that." He looks around at the Iron Legion and it's almost like he's making eye contact with the one he's currently gazing at. "...and now my curiosity abounds. How unexpected." He turns back around and sits down on his bed and A.J. lets himself pull out of the systems and return control to the AI's responsible for them.

"Tony!" He comes back to his body with a jolt as Helen is standing in front of him and there's worry on her face.

"What?" He asks past the splitting migraine and she grabs a tissue and puts it up to his face. When she pulls it away he registers the slightly yellowish tinted red fluid that passes for blood in his new form. "What?" He asks slightly confused.

"We need to do a system diagnostic. Quick." She tells him. "You're leaking everywhere, there's physical manifestations of damage to the form everywhere, who knows what systems you've overloaded." There's a reproach in her voice as he takes the tissue from her and feels around his ears only to have them come back sticky as well.

"Well that's not good." He mutters and there are warnings that start echoing in the back of his mind. "Helen...I think..." He starts to say and it sounds far away to his own ears. "...I might be going into system shutdown."

That's the last thing he remembers saying as everything goes dark.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> >:-D I know where this story ends and I have to say - I'm very much looking forward to everyone's reactions! I almost can't wait!  
> For warnings: There's a little more Loki/Tony in this chapter, I'm starting to think that I might call it and say that it's going to be sticking around. Not sure how it's going to turn out, but it's probably not going anywhere.   
> Next chapter we finally get A.J. interacting with the Rogues! YAY! (throws confetti)

It’s an indeterminate amount of time later when A.J. feels himself come back online. He doesn’t open his eyes right away, instead taking a moment to run a few diagnostic programs and watch the systems come back in the clear to the background noise of beeping computers and Helen’s heeled shoes.

“Helen?” He asks when he finally does open his eyes and he takes in the medical bed and the wires and sensors stuck all over his body. He’s been in the Cradle recently, or so his internal diagnostics tell him and he intentionally chooses not to get a previous damage report as Helen comes over. She looks tired and slightly haggard, like she hasn’t slept and has been in a constant state of damage control for who knows how long. “What happened?”

“You overloaded.” She tells him with a sigh, putting down the clipboard on the table next to him. “You know better.”

“I had to keep Loki in the cell.” A.J. replies and she just levels a look on him that succinctly tells him to shut up.

“I don’t give a damn about Loki. If he’d gotten out Thor or one of the others would have stepped in.” She shakes her head and presses on when it looks like he’s not agreeing with her. “No, you have plans in place to deal with the fact that Loki was always going to try and get out. Even the Council expected it. Doctor Strange expected it. Hell, _Thor_ expected it even though he assured everyone that Loki was going to stay put.” She sighs. “Why didn’t you let them handle it?” The question is an odd one.

Was it because he wasn’t thinking? No, that wasn’t it. Was it because he thought he was the only one who could do it? No, he’s never been that arrogant despite what others have postulated.

The answer hits him after a brief moment of introspection and he cringes.

“…I guess I fell back into old habits.” A.J. admits softly.

“Old habits?”

“I forgot that I have a team now…I guess I’m so used to having to go it on my own and not expecting the others to have my back or even back me up…so I just reacted.” He tells her and she gets a sad look on her face.

“You had the Avengers?” She asks carefully and A.J. shakes his head.

“I may have been ‘part of the team’ officially…but I was always alone. They were very clear about that.” He says and she seems to take a moment before she nods.

“Well, things have changed Tony.” She tells him. “I know it’ll take time, but killing yourself before then isn’t the way to go about this.” She motions to him. “Your body may be a miracle of science and engineering, but your mind is vulnerable and it has its limits. Straining it could have dire consequences for you Tony and you know that.”

“I’m sorry.” A.J. tells her and he means it wholeheartedly, but she shakes her head.

“I don’t want your ‘I’m sorry’, I want your ‘I’ll do better, I won’t do it again’.” She tells him and he gives her a sad smile. He knows that his face is telling her everything he’s choosing not to. He knows it’s saying that he can’t make that promise, even if he wished he could. The door opens in the background and he’s a little surprised to see Vision step into the room. The other android stops when he sees that A.J. is awake and then he comes over in quick steps.

“Are you well?” He asks and A.J. nods.

“Apart from the construction crew banging away in my head, I’m good. Diagnostics have me at a hundred percent functionality.” A.J. tells him.

“The headache will undoubtedly remain for some time.” Vision says. “It’s mostly stress damage at this point, the physical damage from the overload has already been seen to.”

“How bad was it?” A.J. asks, looking between the two of them. “My systems say I got dropped in the Cradle.”

“We didn’t want to take a chance.” Helen admits. “It was right here and I decided that it would be best if we erred on the side of caution.”

“It was only for thirty minutes.” Vision tells him. “There were some ruptures in the internal wiring systems from the strain put on them. We took you out when they’d been fixed.” He levels a look on A.J. “Although I’m sure Doctor Cho has already expressed this, I want to add in my voice as well when I say that I recommend that you steer away from any form of behavior –reckless or otherwise – that has the potential to land you back inside of it.”

“I’ll do my best.” A.J. tells him and it’s the closest thing they’re going to get to a promise from him and they both take it. He goes to sit up and he experiences the strangest form of vertigo that overtakes him and he falls back down. “…maybe I should just…lay here for a few more minutes.” He says and the other two give him a look that says he was never going to make it out of the bed anyways, but they nod regardless. “You’re both terrifying I hope you know that.” He says and the matching grins that he gets from them in response to that are something out of a horror movie.

+++

“As your doctor, I don’t recommend any form of up linking with another system outside of FRIDAY any time soon.” Helen says as she locks up the LMD Tony Stark. “Your synapses took a hit Tony, and they’re not going to just bounce back because we dropped you in the Cradle. You still need time to heal.”

“We don’t have time.” A.J. tells her. “The conference is practically around the corner and I need to-”

“You need to not get yourself killed.” Helen cuts him off. “We’ll have to find another way Tony.”

“There may not be one.” A.J. says as he runs a hand through his hair. “Helen…there may not be one.”

+++

“I’m okay.” A.J. says when he steps out of the suit and Rhodey tugs him into a hug.

“What the fuck were you thinking?” Rhodey whispers to him and A.J. shakes his head.

“I wasn’t.” He admits. “I didn’t realize…the damage that was happening. I thought it was fine.”

“How did you not realize that you caused over twenty internal ruptures in your brain?”

“I’m still new at this.” A.J. gives him as an answer, and while it may be a crappy one, it’s the truth. “How have things been while I’ve been away?”

“Thor’s returned.” Rhodey says, turning and starting down the hallways and A.J. falls in step with him. “He’s signed the Accords and Loki is still dragging his feet over your most recent offer.”

“Probably still thinks he can get more concessions out of me. Too bad for him, I don’t think I’m going to be going out of my way to get him a better deal after his little show.” A.J. says and Rhodey nods in agreement.

“As annoying as it was, the Council was ridiculously pleased.” Rhodey tells him. “We’ve proven that we can keep him contained even when he doesn’t want to be.”

“I figured they’d feel that way.” A.J. admits. “Although I’d rather avoid having to do something like that again.”

“You’re not going to do something like that again.” Rhodey tells him. “Next time you let Strange do his thing.”

“…I think I can get behind that.” A.J. relents. “What else?”

“They picked up Carter.” Rhodey tells him and A.J. glances at him.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

“So what’s going to happen there?” A.J. asks and Rhodey shrugs.

“She’s ex-SHIELD and ex-government. She’ll probably be tried for treason, giving out government secrets and all that. Who knows?”

“Does Rogers know?”

“I don’t think so, not yet at least.” Rhodey tells him as he puts his hand on the scanner and the door to the office opens. “I know Romanoff does though so it’s only so long before she tells him.”

“Do you think we need to get in front of that?” A.J. asks and Rhodey shakes his head.

“No, if Rogers is stupid enough to try and break into a government holding cell to break out his maybe-sweetheart then that’s on him.” Rhodey states and A.J. makes a face.

“Yeah, that’s not really how it works, but fair.” A.J. states and Rhodey looks at him. “You know as well as I do, any mistakes they make are going to reflect on us as a whole now that they’re back whether we like it or not. A little bit of damage control is probably a good idea.”

“Honestly I think he’s still too creepily fixated on you to worry about her.” Rhodey replies and A.J. shakes his head.

“A guilty conscience?” He offers as an answer to that. “I mean, he couldn’t be bothered to worry a lick about me before.”

“Probably can’t go on preaching his own righteousness until he can put what he did to you behind him.” Rhodey says with a roll of his eyes. “Why the hell the Council agreed to let them back is beyond me.”

“They were probably afraid of what they could get up to without oversight.” A.J. replies. “That and T’Challa didn’t want them in Wakanda anymore so he was really, _really_ determined.”

“You let me worry about that.” Rhodey tells him, putting a hand on his shoulder. “That’s my job remember?”

“That’s a job for a village Rhodey.” A.J. warns him with a mock serious face like he’s sharing some profound wisdom and Rhodey laughs.

+++

“You’ve returned.” Loki says when he enters the room and A.J. doesn’t respond to him as he comes over and brings up the screens for the Containment field. It’s slightly reminiscent of their first few interactions that it doesn’t stop Loki from continuing on with the conversation regardless of response. “I will admit, I did not expect for what occurred to happen. It was rather surprising.” Loki says, coming over and lowering his voice as if he’s sharing a secret between him and A.J.

“You didn’t expect there to be backup options?” A.J. asks with a bored monotone and Loki shakes his head.

“Not that, that I expected. I would never think that Stark would not have a few tricks up his sleeve. I would have been disappointed had he not.” He says with a wave of his hand as he leans up against the glass and glances at him. “I will admit, I was curious once upon a time why Stark would put such faith in you. He doesn’t seem like the sort to be easily impressed by outside forces…but the mastery by which you controlled his machines.” He grins. “It was quite impressive.” A.J. doesn’t respond to him, he just continues on with his work. Loki likes the sound of his own voice most days, today doesn’t seem to be any different.

It does only seem to take a few minutes before Loki seems to catch onto the fact that something is wrong however. “Are you cross with me?” He asks and there’s a layer of amusement in his voice. “You are.” He answers himself when A.J. doesn’t answer him. “I don’t know why. You had to have known that I would try to get out at some point.” He looks a little put out when A.J. still doesn’t rise to the occasion. “It was just a bit of fun. It was harmless” He says and A.J. can’t help the sigh he does at that before he finishes up the new levels and closes the screens before looking Loki right in the eye for the first time since he’s come in.

“But it wasn’t.” He tells him and Loki pauses to look at him.

“How was it not?” He asks, his eyes searching A.J.’s completely impassive face. It only takes a few moments before he seems to come to the right conclusion. “When you joined with Stark’s machines, you were harmed?” A.J. doesn’t look away and doesn’t answer that, but it’s clear he doesn’t have to with how Loki looks away slightly with something crossing his face that looks like it might be guilt for a few seconds. “I did not intend for that to occur.”

“I recommend that you sign the agreement.” A.J. says, not touching the subject. “You will not be getting another offer from us.” He says and he just turns around and leaves the room.

Loki wisely doesn’t say anything as he goes.

 


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And they meet! Yay!

“What did you say to Loki?” Rhodey asks him when he comes into the lab later that day. A.J. glances up at him with a frown.

“What do you mean?” He asks and Rhodey arches an eyebrow and crosses his arms. “I don’t know? He knew that I interfaced with the Iron Legion somehow – I’m guessing magic, god I hate magic – and I might have heavily implied that while he may have ‘just been having fun’, it wasn’t all fun and games on my side.” A.J. replies. “Why?”

“He’s signed the Accords agreement.” Rhodey answers and A.J. can’t help but stare at him in surprise.

“What?”

“Yup. He signed the most recent offer and the Council is in deliberations right now. They’re going to agree, it’s just a matter of time.” Rhodey tells him before he gives A.J. a strange sidelong look. “He asked me to request that you come by.”

“Why?” A.J. asks and Rhodey does a small shrug.

“I asked him the same thing and he said that he wished to ‘make amends’ to you for his behavior.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah, ‘oh’.” Rhodey repeats. A.J. fidgets a little under Rhodey’s look. “…be careful man…just be careful.” Rhodey tells him before he just shakes his head with a sigh before he pats A.J. on the shoulder with so much he’s not saying before he goes off to deal with whatever new emergency that has potentially risen for the leader of the Avengers.

A.J. can’t help but think that Rhodey needs a break – or a vacation. A serious vacation

He waits about an hour before he finds himself making his way to the Containment Room, and when he enters Loki stands in a way that reminds A.J. of that time when Thor wanted to show his humility for somehow managing to insult the honor of Darcy’s taser.

“Rhodes says that you wanted to speak to me.” A.J. says and Loki nods.

“I wished to apologize.” He says without preamble. “If I had known…I cannot say that I wouldn’t have still done it, but I do regret that you experienced some form of distress from it. That was never my intention.” Something says that’s about as honest as it’s going to get and it’s a thousand times better than the other ‘apologies’ that he’s gotten from other parties in recent times and he nods. “If I can make it up to you, to show you that I am truly remorseful, you need only ask.”

The offer makes A.J. pause.

“…apology accepted.” He says slowly. “And if you’re serious about that, I may have a problem that you might be able to help Mr. Stark and I with.” Loki tilts his head and motions for him to continue. “Mr. Stark had hoped to be able to make a public appearance in a few weeks in order to handle some things…unfortunately this doesn’t look like it’s going to be something that he’s going to be able to do. As you can imagine, it’s causing us quite a bit of problems.”

“And it would benefit you if I what? Pretended to be Stark?”

“For just one event. If you promise to stick to the cards and you don’t go off topic or anything else.” A.J. says and Loki seems to think about it for a second.

“Would it make us even?” He asks.

“If you don’t act out or do anything outside of what we agreed upon. Or cause us any problems that we didn’t think to cover…” A.J. says slowly. “Then yes, it would.” He agrees and Loki gets a slow grin like A.J.’s just agreed to something that he’s going to regret someday soon.

“Then consider it done.”

+++

Pepper arches a perfect eyebrow over the screen as A.J. fills her in on Loki’s agreement to ‘playact’ Tony Stark at the event.

“You got him to agree?” She asks and like Rhodey when he told him, she sounds completely skeptical of the offer.

“Sort of.” A.J. says. “We made a kind of…deal I guess.”

“A deal?” Pepper repeats. “What kind of deal?”

“I agreed to let bygones be bygones from his little stunt and he agreed to handle this problem for me.” A.J. explains and Pepper’s disbelieving look could crack lesser men, goodness knows it cracks A.J. “Quid pro quo…apparently it’s kind of our thing.”

“A.J.” Pep says and there’s a concerned warning in her voice.

“I know.” He replies. “I know.” She looks at his face and she must see something that assures her because she moves on from that line of thought.

“Are you sure that he can be trusted?” She asks and he does a small shrug.

“I think it’s our only option at this point.” He responds. “And I’m not saying we tell him everything. The more we can keep him in the dark actually will probably be for the best.”

“How are you going to do that?”

“I’m thinking that we don’t tell him anything extra. We’ll hold to our guns that I’m so badly injured and we’re trying to hide it for the company and for the Avengers. Hopefully we’ll be able to pull this off.”

“And if we can’t? If he finds out?”

“Then we’ll handle it then.” A.J. replies with more confidence then he feels but it seems to calm Pepper so he’ll run with it. “We’re out of time Pep. Our backs are against the wall and we don’t have a lot of options.”

“But _Loki_?”

“He’s an Avenger now.” A.J. says and she sighs.

“I hope you know what you’re doing.” She tells him and he runs a hand through his hair.

“You and me both Pep, you and me both.”

+++

He’s ‘woken up’ from his system repairs and processing – it still feels weird to him to call it sleep even if that is what he’s basically doing – by a warning from FRIDAY, and a damage report from the Compound systems which he had running in the background just to be on the safe side.

“FRIDAY?” He asks, sitting up and throwing the blankets off as he rushes for the door. Is someone trying to break in? What’s happening?

 ** _‘There’s been an accident in the training room.’_** FRIDAY responds to his query.

“Is anyone hurt?” He asks as he barrels down the hallway, sliding around the corner and pushing off the wall when he almost crashes into it.

**_‘Uncertain at this time. Barton was involved in the explosion. He has not moved.’_ **

“Shit!” A.J. snaps as he turns the corner and enters the training room to see the damage for himself first hand. It’s nothing that can’t be cleaned up in a day and a lot of the practice dummies will need to be replaced, but for the most part there doesn’t look to be massive or even significant damage to the structure or the walls. He runs a quick scan of the area and immediately heads for Barton when his scan returns back the location of the archer’s unconscious body.

He flicks off a few small pieces of debris that are littering the man’s body as he runs a secondary scan. The information that comes back is good news. There doesn’t seem to be any severe damage done apart from a couple cuts to his face. There are indications of possible liver poisoning with the amount of alcohol scanned on his breath but for the most part – Barton’s a lucky man.

A.J.’s almost finished removing the final pieces from him when Barton jerks awake, immediately taking a swing at him that he sees coming from a mile away and he just leans back to avoid it.

“Woah, easy!” A.J. tells him as he tries to help him sit up into a sitting position while avoiding flailing arms.

“Back off asshole!” Clint snarls at him, clearly under some misunderstanding that he’s under attack or something and A.J. just leans back and holds up his hands in a ‘I’m not here to hurt you’ sort of way.

“I’m trying to help you.” A.J. tells him. “Calm down okay?” Clint doesn’t look like he’s ready to follow that request and A.J. slowly pushes himself to his feet. “I’m going to get the first aid kit. I’ll be right back.”

 ** _// ‘Boss? Should I inform Colonel Rhodes of the incident?’ //_** FRIDAY asks over the open connection and A.J. mentally shakes his head as he grabs the kit off the wall.

_** - ‘No, let him rest. As far as things look here it could have been much worse so let’s just thank our lucky stars and call it a day. Have the repair bots come in afterwards though, let’s get this cleaned up before anyone else tries to use it.’ - **_

**_// ‘Consider it done Boss.’ //_** She tells him and he pulls out of the systems to focus on his unhappy and unwilling patient knowing that she’ll handle what needs to be handled.

He returns to Clint side and pulls out a few items before getting to work on the surly archer’s injuries. Barton’s one lucky bastard it would seem since none of them will even require stitches. In the background he can hear the telltale sounds of some of the repair bots already activating and starting with the cleanup.

“What happened?” Wanda’s voice comes from behind him and he tries everything in his power not to flinch but he’s not a hundred percent sure that he manages. Of course Wanda would have sensed something was amiss, he should have known that. Foolish.

“Steve!” The name from Clint has A.J. mentally wanting to find a wall so he can whack his head up against it a few times at the mention of the man that he _really_ didn’t want to see yet. “Wanda! Help me up!” Clint swats at A.J.’s hand as he tries to clean up another small cut. It looks much worse than it was – head wounds and all that – but it gives him a reason to not turn around yet, to prepare himself for whatever was about to happen in this room.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea.” Steve says from behind him and personally A.J.’s a little impressed with himself that even just hearing the owner of that voice in the same room at him, let alone behind him, doesn’t have him just dropping the medical kit and packing up while saying ‘nope, can’t do this right now’.

“Ow you son of a bitch.” Clint snarls at him like a baby when A.J. goes to clean the cut over his eye and A.J. almost sighs. “I said I don’t fucking need your help. Wanda! You’ll help me right! Let’s go get him!”

The thought that Clint might think he’s in any position to go get anyone – let alone Loki, since A.J.’s guessing that this whole grouping of poor choices is in reference to the newest Avenger – is rather entertaining if it weren’t also slightly terrifying. The last thing any of them needed was a drunk person with weaponized arrows and a vendetta that clearly wasn’t going to be rationally thought out in his current state.

“Who?” Wanda asks Clint and A.J. feels a little more foolish than he did for coming in here without backup or a second thought when Clint responds to her and reveals that A.J. had guessed wrong about who Clint wanted to go after.

“That fucking backstabber – who else?” Clint all but shouts to the ceiling and A.J. bites back a tired sigh and barely refrains from shaking his head. Of course Clint would find him solely to blame for Loki’s admittance to the Avengers. It wasn’t like there was a whole Council of over two dozen people who voted for it, and it wasn’t like Thor could possibly bare any responsibility for bringing him back and asking for the vote in the first place. No, clearly it was all Evil Tony Stark™ who was at fault for everything that went bad in their lives.

Actually, now that he thought about it that was pretty par for the course for them. Not an entirely original thought process but one that he had to give them, they stuck to their guns on it. They held to it when they blamed Tony for Ultron despite everything, they held onto it when they assigned Killian’s decision to become a crazed terrorist on his actions one night in Switzerland, and they held onto it when they blamed him for their own screw-ups that pushed the Accords into the final stages. Not to mention they definitely held to it when they got it in their heads that somehow he was personally responsible for over 117 countries decision to agree upon a series of laws regarding responsibility in the field and they held onto it when they went and landed their own dumbasses in jail.

He really shouldn’t be surprised at how easily they’ll assign all the blame to Tony Stark instead of thinking critically about themselves and their own choices.

“He shouldn’t be left alone tonight.” A.J. tells them as he finishes up the final cut and he starts cleaning up the mess. “He doesn’t have any head injuries according to the scans,” he figures he can safely say that and they’ll assume that it was FRIDAY who provided said scans, “but it’d still be a good idea to keep an eye on him.”

“Who are you?” Steve asks and A.J. just goes over to the wall to return the kit to its previous place as he marks down the date of use. He takes his time going through the motions and he’s trying to come to grips with the moment coming up. It feels like a strange moment of truth and he doesn’t know why.

It was always going to come time to pay the piper though, sooner or later this moment was going to happen and he knew that. He’d secretly hoped that it’d have been later though.

He takes a deep breath before he turns around to face them and he sees how Steve’s and Wanda’s eyes track over his face, clearly trying to either get a read on him or to determine if they can place him somewhere from before.

“I guess I was the one who was closest. FRIDAY contacted me when Barton’s arrow went off and injured him.” He tells them and Steve just glances at Barton at that information.

“Is he okay?”

“He’ll be fine, you’ll want to watch him but most of it is cosmetic. He was far enough from the blast radius.” He tells him as Clint makes a mockery of himself on the ground.

“Thank you.” Steve tells him and he figures that he can bow out safely now without raising any red flags. They’ll handle Barton and FRIDAY can keep an eye on the proceedings just to be on the safe side. He should have known that Rogers wouldn’t really allow that as he steps directly into his path and immediately A.J.’s mind comes up with at least five other ways to escape from the room if need be. “I’m Steve Rogers, I haven’t seen you around here before.” He says as he holds out his hand. “Are you an Avenger?” That’s a loaded question that A.J. can’t afford to answer right now and he just reaches out and takes the offered hand.

It’s strange how the thought pops up in his head about how Steve never offered to shake his hand when they met for the first time.

“A.J.” He offers to him without anything else. The smile that Steve gives him at the simple concession should irk him but he guesses that he’d have to have more care about what Steve was thinking and what he was feeling for that to happen. As such, A.J. just wants to leave. The whole situation gets worse though when Wanda steps up and he gets the strange feeling of something like what nails on a chalkboard would feel like when she holds out her hand.

“Wanda Maximoff.” She says and he can’t help how he probably stares at her hand for too long without doing anything about it. Vision was absolutely certain that Wanda’s abilities required some form of organic makeup in order to work properly, something that A.J. no longer possessed and therefore placing him outside of her mind reading habits. However he can’t help the brief moment of doubt. What if they’re wrong? What if somehow Wanda’s powers have evolved or grown and she’s able to make the connection? What if that happens and she ruins _everything_?

He settles himself internally and stomps down the worry. There really isn’t any turning back now and they have to know. He reaches out and accepts her handshake, and he guesses that he’s not surprised in the slightest when system warnings pop up alerting him to a new form of magic attempting to force itself onto him. He instinctually pulls his hand back – and seriously? How rude, someone needed to have a talk with her about basic human decency and consent – while Wanda’s eyes go wide and surprised.

“Well, I’ll be off. Have a good night.” He says, trying to keep his voice calm and he takes off for the door, determined not to be stopped again tonight. He makes it to his room with no other incidents and he sits down on the edge of his bed for a time.

FRIDAY tells him later when he’s ready to hear it that Wanda expressed confusion about her powers not working on him and if it were possible, A.J. feels like he might have laughed himself sick.


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're nearing the end of this part of The Roles We Play verse! Thanks for all your amazing reviews guys!

**_‘Sir, when you have a moment, Rhodes would like to speak with you.’_** FRIDAY tells him when he’s down in the lab with Bruce and he looks up, pushing his goggles up onto the top of his head.

“Is everything okay?” He asks as he starts to put down the tools in his hands.

 ** _‘It was not a pressing request, but he is free now if you wished to catch him alone.’_** FRIDAY responds and there’s something that his baby girl isn’t telling him, but A.J. just nods and looks at Bruce.

“I guess I’ll be right back.” He tells the other man and Bruce nods, barely looking up from his own calculations. He’s been pretty busy running Rogers’ blood through all of the tests that they can figure. It’s just mere precaution at this point. They all know that history has shown that Steve can’t get sick or get any form of virus thanks to the serum, but it’s always better to be safe than sorry.

Although A.J.’s grateful that Bruce didn’t push him for his physical or his required blood draw. It would have been a little difficult to explain why things worked a little differently in A.J.’s case – heck he didn’t even have a blood type anymore – but Bruce took A.J.’s claim of ‘Doctor Cho performed the test’ (once again _– never_ talking about that) with an arched eyebrow and a simple nod.

He puts everything up and makes his way upstairs, using the secondary elevator just to be sure that he doesn’t run into anyone he’d rather not and he knocks on the door before Rhodey tells him to enter.

“Hey, FRIDAY says you wanted to see me?” He asks and Rhodey spins around in his chair slowly, his elbows resting on the arm rests and his fingers interlaced. It’s reminiscent of all those times in college when either Rhodey or Tony would be waiting up for the other, and dramatically reveal themselves in the dark – most of the time with dramatic lighting from a table lamp.

A.J. knows he’s done something _instantly_.

“Yup.” Rhodey tells him and A.J. knows what this is about.

“He barely got knocked around. Didn’t even have a concussion. I had to use like four wipes on him and a Band-Aid. One Band-Aid, hardly the stuff to write home about.” A.J. defends and Rhodey just shakes his head. “…Okay, and I might have also been thinking that Rogers and his groupies might see that as an example of all the ways that we’re just trying to find ‘stupid things to punish them on’ – I’m a hundred percent positive he’s gone off on something like that by now-” Rhodey nods at those words and A.J. rolls his eyes. “Yeah, he’s a moron. A predicable moron most of the time, but a moron nonetheless.” He looks Rhodey in the eye. “I promise, I wasn’t trying to go around you or anything, it just didn’t seem like the sort of thing to plant our flag about. Ross is still up Rogers’ butt and the last thing I wanted was for him to use something like this to show that we’re being too ‘strict’ or something equally stupid.”

“That wasn’t your call to make.” Rhodey tells him and there’s a tired frustration there. “You should have still come to me. News flash, even if you didn’t mean to go around me, that’s exactly what you did.” A.J. pauses to think about it before he cringes and comes over, taking the seat across from Rhodey.

“…you’re right.” He admits. “I’m sorry, you’re right. I shouldn’t have done that. I should have had FRIDAY alert you immediately when it happened or at the very least told you the second I left and had a moment to do so.” A.J. looks at him. “I’m sorry Rhodey, I won’t do it again. FRIDAY, next time something happens in the Compound, I’d like you to send an alert immediately to Rhodey. Regardless of what it is or the time.”

 ** _‘Will do.’_** FRIDAY answers and Rhodey nods, clearly pleased with the apology and the steps taken to ensure it won’t happen again.

“I still have to write you up.” Rhodey warns him and A.J. nods.

“I completely agree and I understand.” He tells him and Rhodey slides the already filled out paperwork towards him and A.J. adds his signature to the bottom of it. “Am I on latrine duty?” He asks with a grin and Rhodey’s smirk back makes his grin fall off his face. “No seriously? That doesn’t actually exist right?”

“No, _latrine duty_ doesn’t exist.” Rhodey says and A.J. feels a growing horror slide down his spine.

+++

“Evil Rhodey, evil lab decontamination.” A.J. mutters to himself at least once or twice as he makes his way down the hall. Rhodey says that Steve personally came to request an audience with him and he’d rather not give a second person that Steve thinks Rhodey’s trying to keep from him.

Two minutes. In and out.

The door to their common area is open and A.J. glances inside to see Steve and Wanda at a table playing cards. Steve looks the same as he usually does, hair parted the exact same way that he probably did it back in the thirties or whenever. Wanda surprises him a little though. He’d heard from Vision that the android had completely severed his ties with the witch a day or so ago and A.J. had almost expected to see Wanda ghosting down the halls in oversized clothing muttering things about how unfair life was that someone she assaulted decided they didn’t love her anymore.

A.J. was so ready to be all ‘This is so sad. FRIDAY, play Despacito’.

That’s not at all the picture that the Sokovian woman is painting though. She looks perfectly happy and A.J. figures that it must not have been that deep of a ‘love’ after all. He mentally steels himself before he knocks lightly on the doorframe. Both of them turn to look his way immediately and the matching smiles that he gets from them is both unexpected and slightly painful.

…He can’t remember _once_ when they looked at him like that before.

“A.J.” Steve says as they both stand up to greet him.

“Um, Rhodes said that you wanted to see me?” A.J. asks, already wanting to get to the reason as to why Rogers was trying to track him down. There’s literally no reason for it, they don’t know each other. They’ve met once – for like three minutes at most. It doesn’t really make any sense, kind of like the friendly greeting he’s getting doesn’t make any either.

“Yeah, come on in.” Steve says and for a moment A.J. considers telling Steve that he really can’t stay. That he’s got a lab to decontaminate or something…but he bites it back and slowly steps into the area. He’s not really sure what he should do, or where he should stand and luckily Steve continues on with the reason why A.J. is here. “I wanted to talk to you about last night.” Steve says as he motions to one of the chairs at the table and A.J. takes it.

“Did you want something to drink?” Wanda asks him and A.J. could almost fall out of his chair but he thinks he holds it in.

“No thank you.” He says, turning back to Steve. “You said you wanted to talk about last night?”

“I wanted to thank you.” Steve says and A.J. hides the internal wince. What the actual hell? What were they up to? Or was this truly how they responded to everyone else _but_ Tony Stark? “I know that it ended up being nothing, but I’m glad that you responded so quickly. It could have easily been much worse than it was.”

“Oh, um, no thank necessary. Like I said last night, I was just the closest.” He tells him and Steve gets this small smile like he’s approving of A.J.’s desire to push away any thanks for being a decent human being and Clint enters the area thankfully a lot more sober than he was last night.

“You’re the kid from last night?” Clint asks and A.J. nods, and he bites back the internal sigh when even Clint comes over and offers his hand to shake. “Steve’s right then, thanks. Sorry if I gave you hell.” Seriously, what the actual hell?

“Uh…no problem.” A.J says, uncertain what it is they want him to say to them. “Um, if that’s all you needed then I should probably be going.”

“You could stay if you wanted.” Wanda says almost immediately and if he hadn’t been sitting, he would have fallen over. “You could play a game with us if you have some time.” She says, motioning to the cards strewn about the table.

“I really can’t.” He says. “Rhodes has me on lab decontamination and cleanup.” He can’t help the displeasure that overtakes him – he’s seriously considering rushing off to do _lab decontamination and clean up_ just to get the hell out of here. What even is his life these days?

“I’m sorry about that.” Steve tells him, looking so sorry for it. “I didn’t mean to get you in trouble for last night.”

“It’s fine. Rhodes was right, I should have filed the forms.”

“Why didn’t you? If you don’t mind me asking?” Steve asks with a fake kind of casualness and A.J.’s not sure if this is a test or an attempt to catch him in a lie or something. He shrugs a little as he thinks about his answer.

“I don’t know…I guess, I just thought that it wasn’t a big deal. I mean, Barton was fine and with your pardons I didn’t see a reason to…” _I didn’t see it as a big enough reason to have you breathing down Rhodey’s neck like a stupid, annoying dragon_ “…I guess I didn’t really see a reason to cause a big fuss about it since no one got hurt.”

It’s like he’s said the magic words because the atmosphere in the room lightens considerably. It’s weird and unsettling.

“Well, thank you again and I’m sorry I got you in trouble.” Steve tells him with a smile that seems way too bright for the situation at hand and Wanda rests on her elbow on the table, slightly leaning closer towards him. A.J. wonders if he should start prepping his systems for another attempt at weaseling into them. God he wants _out_. “If you don’t mind me asking, who do you work with out on the field?”

“What?” A.J. asks, turning his attention from Wanda back to Steve.

“You’re an Avenger right?” Steve asks and A.J. nods slightly. “Which team are you assigned to?” _Why?_ A.J. can’t help but wonder.

“Oh…um, none at the moment.” He says truthfully. “I’m mostly working with Dr. Banner and Dr. Cho down in the labs.” It’s not a lie.

“You’re a scientist?” Steve says and he looks way too surprised for such a simple concept.

“Sometimes.” A.J. hedges carefully. “I’m mostly just whatever they need at the time.”

“Sounds like fun.” Steve tells him before he seems to pause. “Do you work with Tony as well?” _Well shit._

“You could say that.” A.J. tells him and Steve gets a look on his face like A.J. has just answered a question that Steve didn’t ask.

“That must be exciting. Working with those three.” Steve starts trying to start a new conversation and A.J. really doesn’t want to continue down this line of conversation.

“I should probably get back to it actually.” He says, standing up.

“Thanks again kid for your help.” Clint offers as a goodbye and Wanda nods with a friendly smile.

“You’re always welcome here, if you wanted somewhere to hang out on break or someone to just play a game with.” She offers and A.J. can honestly say that carving out his eyes with a Spork would be a more likely scenario than _that_.

“I’ll keep that in mind. Have a good day.” He tells them before he takes off with the longest strides that he can rationally get away with without saying he’s running away.

…What the hell was that all about?

Because it was bloody fucking creepy.

He considers heading down to the labs to rejoin Bruce when he pauses and makes his way towards his room. He needs a shower first and then who knows – maybe he’ll follow it up with a trip to the decontamination chamber.


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is it! The final chapter for this installment! I hope you all enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing it!  
> Until next time!
> 
> P.S.  
> >:-) I can't wait to see all of your parting thoughts!

“I saw Rogers again, Harley wasn’t too happy about it.” A.J. says as he tugs on his jacket and does up a few buttons. Rhodey rolls his eyes. “He was looking for you.”

“I know.” Rhodey says with a snort. “He found me.”

“Can I ask what he wanted to talk about?”

“He wants to be team lead.” Rhodey tells him and A.J.’s fingers freeze where they’re doing up his tie.

“What?” He asks after a moment of pause and Rhodey nods once as he starts doing up his own.

“He wants to ‘lead his team’ again.” Rhodey tells him and A.J. cringes.

“He knows that’s not going to happen right?”

“I told him that but I’m pretty sure that man only hears what he wants to hear, regardless of what’s _actually_ being said.”

“Well I can’t argue with you there.” A.J. agrees before he side eyes Rhodey. “What are you going to do?”

“What I’d do if anyone asked how to be a team lead. I gave him the basics and sent him on his way. I told the Council about it and apparently Rogers has already called Ross up asking if there’s some way that his team can stay together instead of being split up.”

“He went behind your back?”

“I’m sure he doesn’t see it that way.” Rhodey says with a sigh. “But Ross promised to look into it. He’s been pestering me for options.”

“Options? What kind of options does he think you have?” A.J. asks. “Even if you _wanted_ to keep them together, there’s no team lead that could take them all on.”

“I know.” Rhodey says before he shakes his head. “But don’t worry about that. We’ve got enough problems tonight as it is.” Rhodey glances at A.J. “Do you think he’ll keep his word?”

“…is it weird to say I do?” He asks and Rhodey doesn’t say anything, but even the silence tells A.J. that he does in fact think that. “I don’t know why, but I don’t think he’s going to do anything that fucks us over tonight.”

“I hope you’re right.” Rhodey says. “Because if he does, there’s nothing we can do to stop it.”

“I know, and I’ve already got three separate backup plans ready to go just in case.” A.J. looks at Rhodey. “You’re going to stay with Rogers during the event right?”

“Please, I couldn’t leave that man’s side if I wanted to.” Rhodey says. “I don’t trust him to stay out of trouble any more than I trust Loki not to cause it.”

“Well…here’s to hoping that tonight goes in our favor.” A.J. tells him and Rhodey nods.

“Here’s to hoping.”

+++

“Is he here yet?” A.J. asks as he looks out over the crowd and Pepper shakes her head.

“No, his car hasn’t arrived yet. Happy will tell us when they get here.” She tells him and A.J. sighs. There’s a nervous energy rushing through him and he’s a little surprised when Pepper comes over and gently takes his shaking hands in hers to settle them. “If you want to back out, just say the word.” She tells him with complete sincerity and A.J. gives her a smile.

“Thank you.” He tells her. “But despite how this looks, I’m ready for this.” She looks in his eyes before she nods.

There’s the faint echo of Loki’s power on the edge of his awareness and A.J. turns to where the Asgardian has just manifested.

“I do hope I’m not late.” Loki says with that superior sort of drawl to his voice. A.J. knows that they both know he’s not.

“Thanks for coming.” A.J. tells him as Pepper does a final squeeze and thanks Loki herself on behalf of Stark Industries and Tony. Loki merely smiles and accepts the thanks before he looks at A.J.

“You mentioned cards to read from, I’ve yet to receive them.” Loki tells him and A.J. nods as Pepper pulls them out of her purse.

“Here. This is everything that we’re willing to offer at this time. Any other questions past these ones, just simply say that you have no comment on that at this time.” Pepper instructs and Loki looks through the cards, flipping through the ones that talk about Stark Industries and where that’s going from here and he pauses at the one that A.J. knows has the ‘official story’ written on it.

Green eyes glance up from the card to look at him.

“Anthony Stark _Jr._?” He asks with an amused grin that’s spreading across his face.

“I told you my name was A.J.” A.J. tells him. “I never said what it was short for.” Loki just holds his glance, and in the corner of his eye A.J. sees Pepper tap her ear before she nods.

“Happy’s here.” She tells him and he looks away from Loki.

“Good, FRIDAY let Rhodey know please.” A.J. tells the AI and he turns back to Loki when he gets the green light about Rhodey keeping track of Steve. “Are you ready?” He asks Loki, he figures he won’t insult either of them by asking if he can do this, and Loki nods before the green and gold mirage looking magic flows over him and standing there is Tony Stark. “That’s just so weird.” A.J. mutters and he knows that Loki misunderstands, but seeing Tony Stark standing apart from him will never stop being eerie.

“Final chance.” Pepper whispers to him and he gives her a thumbs up. “Alright, lets get this show on the road.” She says before she tugs back the curtain and heads out. It leaves him alone in the area with Loki and it should feel more concerning or possibly dangerous than it does, but A.J.’s gotten used to the demi-god during his stay in the Containment Room.

“You’re Stark’s son?” Loki questions and A.J. glances at him.

“Is that a problem?” He challenges and Loki shakes his head, but he’s looking at A.J. with a look that’s far too thoughtful and searching.

“Not at all, merely curious.”

“You keep saying that.”

“It keeps being true.” Loki throws back easily before he straightens up.

“Don’t forget, he’s injured.” A.J. tells him. “You’ve got to…play it up a little, but don’t overdo it. He still has an image to maintain.”

“Where is he injured?” Loki asks and A.J.’s mind goes back to Helen’s notes on Tony’s body, back before they cremated it. He thinks about where he might be in a healing process if he’d actually managed to survive in that body.

“His lungs have been damaged, his sternum is fragile right now, his left arm is experiencing tremors and he’s not walking well.” A.J. tells him and Loki nods.

“Consider it done.” He says and A.J. wishes he didn’t feel the weight lift off his chest but he does.

One of these days, this whole back and forth with Loki was going to come and bite him in the ass. He just hoped he was right, and that it wasn’t going to be tonight.

+++

Everything is in chaos following the press conference and while A.J. has always admired Pepper for her grace under fire and her ability to handle impossible situations – he’s still caught in awe of her mastery of the game.

There are questions everywhere, people trying to get a piece of him at any cost and it reminds him of how things were before. He never realized how bad it was, it had always just been the norm to him.

A.J. takes a small sip of his coffee as Rhodey and him walk up the stairs to the Compound. It’s been a long morning, the first one that he’s left the Compound since the ‘big reveal’ and he was still reeling over how many people seemed to recognize him.

Then again, walking beside Rhodey who was such a recognizable face probably didn’t help.

“Missing how it was?” Rhodey asks when they enter the Compound and A.J. sighs as he reaches up and tugs off the cap, running his hand through his hair in that nervous gesture that’s carried over from his first life.

“…yeah.” He admits. There’s no point in lying about it. “It was nice not being accosted when I just wanted to go out and walk down the street to get a cup of coffee.” He thinks about the days that he spent at the Manor when the rogues first returned and the calm, quiet nature of them. “I guess I just forgot…”

“Do you wish you could take it back?” Rhodey asks him and A.J. looks down at the coffee cup in his hands.

“A little? Yeah? Is that selfish of me? To miss being able to just sit on a park bench and have everyone just walk on by?” It seems pointless to ask it, but he does anyway. It’s not like he didn’t step into this with his eyes wide open. Pepper and Rhodey were giving him outs every five seconds, hell even Harley was offering to step in any time it got brought up around him. “But I stand by my decision if you’re worried about it.” If feels necessary to say. “The world needs Iron Man, you know that. And people would have started doubting and losing trust in the armor if I never stepped out of it. This was the lesser of all evils.”

“To be honest.” Rhodey tells him, reaching out and putting a hand on his shoulder. “I would have said to hell with Iron Man and let you go have that life if it had been my choice.”

“I know.” A.J. says with a smile, and he does. Rhodey would have fought the world to let A.J. have a life that the world didn’t think was owed to it. Rhodey’s eyes glance up and there’s a tightness there that makes A.J. look over.

He mentally curses himself for speaking so freely without having connected to the system or sent out a pulse in the area to make sure they were alone.

“Rogers.” Rhodey says and it’s like he’s ready to be A.J.’s knight in War Machine armor if Steve even starts trying to cause the same level of bullshit for A.J. now that he used to cause for Tony now that he knows he’s a Stark.

“Good morning.” Steve greets. “Hello A.J.”

“Hi.” He tells him before he decides to just get the hell out of dodge before Steve can say something that’ll set Rhodey off. “I should get back down to the labs. I’ll see you around Rhodey.” A.J. tells him as he turns and takes off down the hallway.

He doesn’t make it far before he hears someone jogging up behind him.

“A.J.!” Steve calls out and A.J. pauses, inwardly cursing himself for not being faster as he turns around.

“Mr. Rogers.” He says, trying to keep his voice on the side of friendly yet at the same time firm enough to express the lack of shit that he’s willing to put up with from the blonde. “Did you need something?”

“I’m sorry.” Steve says and it’s like it slips out and it completely derails A.J.

“For what?” He can’t help but ask.

“I’m sorry that you thought you couldn’t tell us. I’m sorry if you thought that we would have treated you differently if we had known.” A.J. can’t help but just stare at the blond as he says his piece. “It doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter who your father is. I’d like to get to know _you_. I’m sure I speak for all of us when I say that too. _We’d_ like to get to know you.” Steve holds out his hand like an olive branch extended and A.J. inwardly marvels at how cruel the man can be without even realizing it.

Not judging someone based on erroneous data and their fathers mistakes? Where were these kinds of promises when it was Tony Stark standing in front of him? Where were these kinds of promises when Tony Stark did everything in his power to show them who he really was and they ignored it for the masks.

…It hurts. He didn’t think it would, but leave it to Rogers to find the soft spots in his walls and stab him there. All those years, all that effort and there was never going to be anything he could have done to change their minds because he was Tony Stark.

And Tony Stark apparently didn’t get the same curtesy that everyone else got.

A.J.’s not sure the smile he tries to give Steve isn’t projecting all of these thoughts. The frustration and pain of a dead man looking at his executioner who had once claimed to be his friend.

The handshake feels like sandpaper.

“Here’s to being judged on our merits I supposed and not what other people say about us.” A.J. can’t help but say. He’s not really expecting Steve to get it. He’s not expecting Steve to see any correlation between his words and his own actions.

“Hear, hear.” Steve says with a smile and its clear Steve doesn’t get it. A.J. figures that he always knew that Steve was never going to.

+++

It’s the first full meeting that A.J.’s been present at where he isn’t a ghost inside the empty Iron Man armor and where everyone has taken to already referring to him as the new Iron Man. It goes off without a hitch and A.J.’s not sure why he thought that it wouldn’t but with the arrival of the rogues into the circle he’d just assumed something bad was going to happen.

As it were, really the only things that did happen was that Clint spent the whole time glowering at Loki who never seemed to realize that the archer even existed on the same plane of existence as him and how Wanda kept stealing looks in his direction, glancing away each time he glanced back.

“Colonel, Mr. Stark.” Ross says and both of them pause when called instead of leaving with the others now that the meeting was over. “Could you stay a moment? There was something I wanted to discuss with you.”

“Of course?” Rhodey says and he shoots A.J. a confused look that A.J. matches but they both wait for everyone else to leave. Steve and his team stick around though and A.J. can’t help but wonder why. “How can we help you Councilmember?” Rhodey asks.

“As you know, we’ve been attempting to come up with…well a series of middle grounds to ensure good faith.” Ross says and they nod along with him. “As such when Mr. Rogers approached me and asked to remain together with his team, the Council was curious if there might be a way to allow that.” Ross looks at them all. “The image of the Avengers as you know is a powerful thing and in this time, in the aftermath of all that unpleasantness we thought that keeping the team together and allowing them to restore themselves in the eyes of the public was not a bad thing.”

“Okay?” Rhodey says slowly and Ross continues.

“So we discussed it and we’ve come to a determination that we think will benefit all parties.”

“You want to make Rogers team lead again?” Rhodey asks and A.J. could almost bash his head against a wall at even just the thought of that. That would be the worst idea to happen in the history of bad ideas. Ross does a nervous kind of chuckle and shakes his head.

“Oh no, Mr. Rogers is aware that the general public might not respond well to him stepping back up into his old position. We need someone new who could mediate between the old team image and the new one.”

“You have someone in mind?” Rhodey asks and Ross nods.

“Of course, who better to team up with the original Avengers than the new pilot of the Iron Man armor?” Ross says and A.J. feels like he’s just been dunked in ice water.

“What?” He barely croaks out and Ross nods like this thought it brilliant. “…I have no training.” A.J. says, and there’s a panicked sort of desperation in his voice.

Ross wants to stick him with the rogues.

…Ross wants to stick him with the bloody fucking rogues.

As their _leader_?

“Mr. Rogers and the rest of your father’s old team have already been made aware of that and they’re willing to help you in any way they can.” Ross tells him and A.J. looks at Rhodey with a look that undoubtedly shows his mounting horror.

Steve and the others are looking at him with almost kind and pitying looks out of the corner of his eye and he thinks he might scream.

“This is something that should have been discussed with A.J. _prior_ to discussing it with the rogues.” Rhodey tells Ross. “He’s given no indication that he even wants to be team lead.”

“I’m sure in time you’ll come to see that it was the lesser of all evils.” Ross says in the way that tells A.J. that they’re going to press this. “I’m sure that Mr. Stark will do us all proud.”

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!  
> Please no comments of a negative/critiquing or argumentative nature. Thank you!


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